Krak Review: Kraken's Money App, Its Up-to-2% Card and What the Invite Pays

Krak is the money app Kraken launched on 26 June 2025. It holds US dollars, euros, pounds, Canadian dollars, Swiss francs and Australian dollars alongside crypto, and you pay people by their Kraktag, a handle such as @jimm, instead of an account number. Transfers between Krak users are free and instant, and Krak says you can send 600 currencies to more than 160 countries without a transfer fee, with the exchange rate shown before you send.

On top of that sit a debit card, cashback on card spending, Vaults that pay a variable yield on deposits, and Krak Concierge for travel bookings. You can log in with an existing Kraken account, and balances move freely between Krak, Kraken and Kraken Pro. Krak is mobile-only; there is no web version.

Krak is a Kraken brand, run by Payward. In the EEA your cash is e-money with Payward Ireland Limited, an electronic money institution authorised by the Central Bank of Ireland (C453020), and crypto services come from Payward Europe Solutions Limited, authorised under MiCA by the same regulator (C468360). In the US, payments run through Payward Interactive, a licensed money transmitter (NMLS #1843762), and Krak keeps customer cash in a pooled account at Citibank. Canada is covered by Payward Canada, registered with FINTRAC as a money services business.

None of this is a bank deposit. E-money is safeguarded rather than covered by a deposit protection scheme, US balances are not FDIC- or SIPC-insured, and crypto is backed by Kraken's proof of reserves on major assets rather than any compensation scheme. Vaults are run by Payward Wallet, LLC and are unregulated, with a variable yield and a risk of loss.

Kraken's help centre, updated 11 August 2026, says Krak is available everywhere except Australia, apart from the places Kraken doesn't serve at all. Some features vary by region: the card is issued in the EEA, the UK and the US; in the US it isn't available in New York, Maine, Massachusetts or Indiana, crypto transfers are off in Indiana, Maine and New York, and cash transfers are off in Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, New York and Utah.

The invite has its own limits. Krak's referral terms, run by Payward Inc. since 26 June 2025, don't allow participation from the United Kingdom, Singapore, Austria or Turkey, and you must never have held or registered a Krak or Kraken account. Where you live decides it, so sign up with your real country of residence.

Outside the EEA, the worldwide invite applies. Sign up through our link, verify your identity to at least Kraken's Intermediate level, top up the equivalent of US$10 in cash (not crypto), and send money to someone as the in-app pop-up for the promotion asks. Krak's terms say both sides then get US$2 or more; our invite page shows US$10. The reward is credited automatically within 30 days of Krak confirming you qualify, the number of rewards is limited, and there's no cash alternative.

In the EEA, Krak runs a card referral instead. Sign up through the link, order a physical Krak Card and make the number of qualifying card purchases the app shows, all within 90 days. The reward is paid in euros within 14 days of the last step. Cash withdrawals, gift cards, gambling, money transfers, tax and other government payments, and anything refunded or disputed don't count. The amount, the number of purchases and any hold period appear in the app when you sign up, so read that screen before you spend.

Disclosure: @jimm is BonusRoam's own Kraktag. When you qualify, Krak pays us a referral reward too; it doesn't come out of yours.

In the EEA the card is a Mastercard World Elite debit card issued by UAB Monavate, licensed by the Bank of Lithuania. In the US it is a Visa debit card issued by Lead Bank. It spends straight from your Krak balance, drawing on your currencies in the order you set and combining them if one isn't enough. A virtual card is ready within minutes and works with Apple Pay, and the plastic card, in orange or black, is free to order.

Krak charges no transaction fee and no ATM fee, although the ATM's owner may add its own. In the EEA you get the Mastercard exchange rate with no markup; US cards pay the Visa rate plus 1% on foreign-currency spending. Paying with crypto adds a variable spread. A replacement plastic card costs €4.99 or US$4.99. The 16-gram steel card is for members with a 30-day average balance of €50,000 or US$50,000, and replacing it costs €60 or US$60 unless you keep that balance.

New cardholders start on Max, the top Krak Rewards tier, at 2% cashback; in the US that lasts for the first 30 days after you open the account. After that your tier follows your 30-day average balance across Krak, Kraken and Kraken Pro. In the EEA: 0.5% from €200, 1% from €1,000, 1.5% from €10,000 and 2% from €50,000. In the US: 1% from US$1,000, 1.5% from US$10,000, 1.75% from US$75,000 and 2% from US$150,000. Below the first threshold you earn nothing.

Cashback is credited when the merchant finalises the purchase, usually within 24 hours, in your local currency or in bitcoin, and there is no monthly cap. ATM withdrawals, refunds, chargebacks, transfers and purchases under €0.49 or US$0.49 don't earn it. EEA members on Lite or above also get a Salary Match of 0.25% to 1% on at least €2,500 of pay received in up to four payments, capped at €250 a month and not offered in France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain or Liechtenstein. Travel booked through Krak Concierge earns up to 4%.

The invite first. A US reader who tops up US$10 by linked bank transfer pays nothing; the same US$10 by debit card or Apple Pay costs US$0.63, which is US$0.25 plus 3.75%. Sending it to a friend's Kraktag is free. Against that, the invite pays what the app shows, US$10 on our invite page and never less than US$2 under the terms, so use a bank transfer and the reward is all upside.

Then the card, on €500 or US$500 of spending a month. In the welcome period, 2% gives €10 or US$10 a month. Afterwards an EEA cardholder with a €1,000 average balance earns €5 a month, €60 a year, and with €200 earns €2.50. A US cardholder needs US$1,000 on balance for US$5 a month and earns nothing below it, and spending abroad on a US card costs 1% in FX, which cancels that 1% entirely. The cashback is a reason to use the card for everyday spending, not a reason to move savings into Krak.

Bank top-ups (ACH in the US, SEPA in the EEA) and crypto deposits are free. Card, Apple Pay and Google Pay top-ups cost 0.25 plus 3.75% in the currency you add, and PayPal 3.39% in the US. Instant crypto buys, sells and conversions carry a fixed 1% fee, converting dust below the minimum order costs 3%, and crypto withdrawals pay a network fee that depends on the asset. Krak keeps 25% of the yield Vaults earn and 30% of AutoEarn's.

Spending crypto can be a taxable disposal, since it's sold at the moment you pay. Kraken can change the invite, cap rewards or end it at any time, and the referral terms put disputes into arbitration in London with recoverable amounts capped at US$25. Your Rewards tier uses a 30-day average, so a large deposit raises it gradually rather than at once.

On 24 October 2026 Krak was rated 4.7 from 751 ratings on the US App Store and 4.7 from about 6,800 reviews on Google Play, where it has more than 500,000 downloads. Trustpilot, where unhappy customers are over-represented, gives krak.app 2.6 from 302 reviews; many of the five-star reviews there are marked as invited by the company, while the one-star reviews are mostly unprompted.

The complaints repeat: accounts locked straight after a first deposit while compliance reviews it, often for weeks; support that starts with an AI assistant and has no phone line; incoming third-party payments rejected; the app crashing when sending or receiving on some iPhones; and card payments declined after the app had already sold crypto to fund them. Krak answers most negative reviews by escalating the ticket.

Open our invite link on your phone, install Krak from the App Store or Google Play, and create the account with your email, a password and your country of residence; the Kraktag @jimm stays attached. Verify your identity before you fund it, then do the invite steps the app shows for your region. If Krak asks for proof of address or source of funds after your first deposit, answer quickly: that is the point where accounts get held.

To leave, withdraw your cash to a bank account in your name (ACH and SEPA withdrawals are free), move crypto to Kraken or a wallet you control, cancel the card in the app and ask support to close the account. Don't leave balances on an account you've stopped using.

Get it if you send money to people abroad, split bills with friends who also use Krak, or live in the EEA and want a debit card with no FX markup and modest cashback on a €1,000 balance. The invite then pays you for a top-up and a transfer you'd make anyway.

Skip it if you live in the UK, Singapore, Austria, Turkey or Australia, already have a Kraken account, need a bank with deposit protection, or can't afford to have your balance frozen for a few weeks during a compliance check. US readers who mostly spend abroad will lose the cashback to the 1% FX fee.