Uphold Vs Kraken: Which Is Better For Canadians In 2026?

How Do Uphold And Kraken Compare, Fact By Fact?

Every row below comes from each company’s own pages and the Canadian registries, checked October 2026. Where a row has no fair winner, it says so.

What Are The Key Differences Between Uphold And Kraken?

How Do You Fund And Cash Out Uphold And Kraken In Canada?

Canadian crypto remaining after 2025-09-08 was converted to CAD. Withdraw by logging in. Unclaimed funds may eventually be surrendered under unclaimed property laws. Fund by Interac for free, trade on Kraken Pro, and expect to pay CAD 10 to take Canadian dollars back out by e-Transfer. Wire deposits can lose a 13.74 intermediary fee. Kraken has been reported to delay new account checks at busy times.

What Does It Actually Cost To Buy On Kraken?

Kraken: Kraken Pro base tier 0.40% maker / 0.80% taker (Tier 1, USD 0 volume), checked 2026-10-03. The high end is the 1% Instant Buy fee, which is charged on top of a spread Kraken does not publish. Custom orders are 1.5%. Ranges reflect each platform’s published band, not a single quote. Bank and network fees are not included.

What Do Uphold And Kraken Offer Beyond Buying And Selling?

Uphold Only

• Anything to Anything: One-step swaps between crypto, metals and currencies. Not available to Canadians.
• Vault: Self-held Vault accounts can be recovered through the Vault Recovery Site while you hold your private keys; Uphold keeps its Vault key 12 months after closure.

Kraken Only

• Kraken Pro: Order book trading with maker/taker fees from 0.40% / 0.80%, down to 0.0% / 0.10% at USD 10M monthly volume. Tiers can also be reached by holding assets on the platform (USD 20K for Tier 3).
• Staking: Flexible staking with an on-chain unbonding period carries a 20% commission. Canadians cannot stake GRT or FLR, use Opt-In Rewards, or use Babylon Bitcoin staking, and ETH2.S cannot be traded.
• Kraken+: Subscription giving zero trading fees on up to USD 10,000 (or CAD equivalent) a month in Buy, Sell and Convert, with spreads and card fees still applying. The subscription price was not retrieved.
• Recurring buys: Recurring trades are charged the 1% Instant Buy fee plus a spread.

What Happens To Your Money If Uphold Or Kraken Fails?

Uphold: Uphold's pre-registration undertaking was withdrawn and its Canadian MSB registration expired, so no Canadian regulator covers a leftover balance. Crypto left after 2025-09-08 was converted to CAD and can still be withdrawn by Interac; do not leave it there, because unclaimed funds may be surrendered under unclaimed property laws. Vault users must act within the 12-month key window. Uphold says it hopes to return, but no date exists.

Kraken: Kraken is a CSA Restricted Dealer, which brings regulator oversight, loss notifications and purchase caps, but its client assets are not covered by CIPF and Kraken says so. Kraken publishes third-party proof of reserves (June 2026 ratios 100.3% to 102.9% for the five largest assets), which shows assets were held at the snapshot but is not insurance, and no insurance amount is published. Residual risks are exchange hacks, an insolvency where you are an unsecured creditor, and restrictions that can force you to withdraw coins Kraken later removes for Canada.

How Are Uphold And Kraken Treated For Tax In Canada?

Uphold: The forced conversion to CAD after 2025-09-08 was a disposition, and trades on Uphold were dispositions for CRA purposes. Export your full history while you can still log in. Export formats: Not published.

Kraken: Selling, converting one coin to another and staking rewards are taxable events. Kraken exports ledger and trade history as CSV and links to Koinly, which can produce a CRA Schedule 3 report; Kraken does not produce a CRA-ready report itself.

Selling, swapping or spending crypto is a disposition for the CRA on any platform. This is not tax advice: see my guide to crypto taxes in Canada.

Which Should You Choose, Uphold Or Kraken?

Choose Uphold If

• You want a registered platform that serves Canadians today: Coinbase is our number one replacement, with free Interac e-Transfer funding and a Canadian restricted dealer registration.

Choose Kraken If

• You want the widest coin list available to Canadians and a real order book.
• You will use Kraken Pro rather than Instant Buy to keep trading costs near 0.4% to 0.8%.
• You value published proof of reserves over a CIRO dealer.

Only one side of this match-up is still open to Canadians. Uphold left in 2025, and Kraken is the registered platform still serving the whole country, which makes this less a comparison than a hand-over.

What Happened To Uphold?

Uphold is no longer open to Canadians. It stopped supporting accounts for Canadian residents on June 11, 2025 and says it hopes to return. Its stated reason was changes in its operating environment, with nothing more specific given.

The CSA's Crypto Undertakings page shows Uphold filed a Pre-Registration Undertaking on March 27, 2023 and delivered a notice of withdrawal on May 29, 2025. Uphold's FINTRAC registration for Uphold Operating Canada Ltd. now shows as expired, with an expiry date of January 27, 2026. Uphold is on neither the CSA authorized list nor the banned list.

What Should You Do With An Uphold Balance?

After the September 8, 2025 deadline, any crypto still sitting in a Canadian Uphold account was converted to CAD. Accounts that still hold a balance are CAD-withdrawal-only through Interac, with limits of CAD 10,000 per transaction and CAD 100,000 per day, according to Uphold's Canadian withdrawal page.

If you have a balance, withdraw it to your bank and do not top the account up again. There is no sign-up route for new Canadian users, and this page will not point you to one.

What Should Uphold Users Use Instead?

Kraken is the natural landing spot if you liked Uphold for coin choice. It is a CSA Restricted Dealer with about 490 assets for Canadians, free Interac e-Transfer deposits, and it ranks third on my list at 9.2. The registry's own pick to replace Uphold is Wealthsimple Crypto, a registered platform with simple CAD funding for a casual buyer, so look at both before you decide.

Kraken is more of a trader's platform, and Wealthsimple is simpler. If you want the simpler path, my comparison of the two is at Wealthsimple Crypto Vs Kraken.

How Much Does Kraken Charge, And How Do You Fund It?

Kraken runs two price lists. Instant Buy and recurring buys cost a 1% fee plus a spread, and custom orders 1.5% plus a spread. Kraken Pro is cheaper: the entry tier is 0.40% maker and 0.80% taker, dropping to 0.30% and 0.60% from $2,500 of 30-day volume and to 0.22% and 0.38% from $10,000. Kraken Plus offers zero trading fees on up to USD 10,000 of monthly buy, sell and convert volume, though spread and card fees still apply. Converting small balances carries a fixed 3% fee. Kraken republished its fee schedule on September 29, 2026.

Interac e-Transfer deposits are free, with a CAD 5 minimum and limits of CAD 10,000 per transaction and per day, CAD 30,000 weekly and CAD 100,000 monthly. A domestic wire is free too (CAD 100 minimum, 1 to 5 business days, with a CAD 13.74 intermediary bank fee noted). Debit card deposits cost CAD 0.25 plus 3.75%. Getting CAD out by Interac e-Transfer costs CAD 10.

How Is Kraken Regulated, And Which Coins Can You Buy?

Payward Canada Inc., operating as Kraken, is a Restricted Dealer registered with the OSC and the securities regulators of every province and territory (CSA decision April 1, 2025). It is not a CIRO member, and press reports say it intends to apply. It is a FINTRAC-registered MSB. Kraken's Proof of Reserves snapshot at June 30, 2026 showed reserve ratios of 102.9% for BTC and 100.5% for ETH. As a restricted dealer it caps net purchases of assets other than BTC, ETH, LTC and BCH at CAD 30,000 over a rolling 12 months for most clients (CAD 100,000 for eligible investors), with the cap not applying in Alberta, BC, Manitoba, Quebec and Saskatchewan.

Kraken publishes no Canada-specific coin count. Its public API lists 498 tickers once the 135 tickers on Kraken's own Canadian restrictions list are removed (a few of those are fiat), so about 490 is a fair working number. Kraken's global site quotes 600+ pairs, which is not the Canadian figure.

Who Is Kraken Best For?

Kraken suits Canadians who want a wide coin list and cheaper trading on Kraken Pro, and who are happy to learn a more advanced screen. Fund it with free Interac e-Transfer and place orders on Pro, not Instant Buy.

Visit Kraken Read My Kraken Review