For information on changes for our US clients, please visit our Support Center article.

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Overview of Changes for German Clients
The following information only impacts clients in Germany, all other supported regions are unaffected.
As part of our efforts to provide German clients with a localized product offering, whilst maintaining their access to superior user experience, market leading liquidity, and client support, we require existing German clients to re-verify their accounts.
How does this impact me?
German clients who wish to continue using crypto and fiat (bank deposits and withdrawals) services will be required to consent to Payward Ireland Limited and DLT Finance processing their personal data for the purpose of complying with GDPR. As a legal requirement, clients will need to re-verify their identity.
German clients who have provided consent will be able to continue using Kraken services with no interruption. From September 10, 2024, your legal counterparties will become Payward Ireland Limited and DLT Finance. Based on your consent, we will share account information after the re-verification process. Client crypto and fiat assets will be safely held in DLT Custody GmbH and Payward Ireland Limited accounts, respectively.
German clients who have not provided consent or updated their information by the deadline will have trading restricted, positions closed, and will need to withdraw their assets to an external wallet or platform by September 10, 2024.
Clients who do not wish to reverify their accounts and who have failed to withdraw their assets by September 10, 2024, will need to contact Kraken Support to close their Kraken account.
What is changing?
From September 10, 2024, verified clients will face BaFin regulated counterparties (DLT Securities GmbH and DLT Custody GmbH) for crypto services and a Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) regulated counterparty (Payward Ireland Limited) for fiat services (bank deposits and withdrawals).
Overall, the experience for our clients will remain familiar, utilizing the same Kraken interfaces and providing access to services currently available to German clients.
  • User Interfaces: clients will continue to access the same interfaces they are used to.
  • Spot Trading: all Recurring buys and Spot orders will remain open.
  • Staking: supported staked assets will be included in the Opt-in Rewards program and continue to earn the same reward rates.
  • German language support: we are excited to offer localized products in German, as well as German communication and support.
There will be additional changes to the experience as a result of the re-verification and regulatory requirements:
  1. 1
    Asset Support: support for most assets will be retained. In the case of unsupported assets, trading and staking services will no longer be available, however, we will continuously explore adding new assets for our German clients.
  2. 2
    Fiat Funding: fiat deposit and withdrawal bank account details will change in line with the guidance here.
  3. 3
    Opt-in Rewards: Opt-in Rewards will no longer be available for fiat or stablecoins. Balances will be opted-out and returned to clients’ accounts.
  4. 4
    Margin Trading: fiat and Stablecoin margin lending will be discontinued. From mid-September, 2024, related orders and positions will be closed for all asset types. However, crypto asset margin lending will continue, after the date stated, and clients will be able to reopen orders and positions.
  5. 5
    NFTs will no longer be available to trade or deposit and will be set to withdraw only. Parachain auctions will no longer be available.
Derivatives
Derivatives sign ups are not available at the moment, but will be coming soon! We will reach out to you via email once the product is live.
From mid-September, 2024, clients will be able to trade MiFID II regulated derivatives, for detailed information, please see here.
What do I need to do?
From September 10, 2024, clients who wish to continue accessing services must do the following:
  1. 1
    Once prompted, accept the new terms of service and agree to the GDPR notice.
  2. 2
    Reverify their account, find out how here.
  3. 3
    Withdraw or exchange any unsupported assets, which from mid-September, 2024, will be set to withdrawal only mode.
  4. 4
    If intending to trade derivatives, accept the new Terms of Service and complete a appropriateness test.
From September 10, 2024, verified clients will need to:
  1. 1
    Update fiat deposit and withdrawal addresses.
  2. 2
    Withdraw any remaining unsupported assets, which will be set to withdrawal-only.
What if I have not re-verified?
Clients are still able to re-verify their account after the full service suspension. This can be done by either logging into the platform or following the instructions contained in prior email communications. Clients who do not wish to re-verify after this date, but still have assets on the platform, should contact Support to close their Kraken account and withdraw their assets from the Kraken platform.
Please note, access to assets will be dependent upon meeting legal KYC requirements.
Which entities will be providing services?
Changes to Crypto Services
DLT Securities GmbH and DLT Custody GmbH have been authorized by BaFin to provide digital asset brokerage and custodian services. The Terms of Service can be found here.
Changes to Fiat Services
Payward Ireland Limited, trading as Kraken, is authorized by the Central Bank of Ireland to provide e-money services throughout the European Economic Area. This means that Kraken looks forward to continuing to expand our cash funding options to make your experience better than ever before. For more information on e-money services and what it means for you, please see here. From mid-September, 2024*, you will contract with Payward Ireland Limited for fiat payment services. In order to facilitate your continued use of fiat payment services (bank deposits and withdrawals), Payward Ireland Limited will process your personal data as data controllers in line with Kraken’s Privacy Notice.
*The exact service start and other dates may vary. Clients will be contacted with confirmation of the dates.
As a new client, can I still Sign up for an account?
Yes! If you are located in Germany you can sign up for a new account anytime.
As a reminder: Crypto services will be powered by DLT Finance, and fiat (banking deposit and withdrawal) services will be provided by Payward Ireland Limited, a Kraken group company.
If you have any questions regarding this process please don't hesitate to contact Support who are available to help 24/7/365.