Topic: Kraken is Also a Wallet? (Read 231 times)

Not exactly. They provide you the address to store your coins but you don't have private keys of those wallets. So technically, they provide the wallet but you don't have full control over it. It's the exchange who has control over your wallet.
So, don't use them as wallets if you want to have full control of your wallet.

A wallet is used to store the keys to your cryptocurrency, regardless of where you purchase the crypyo (be it Kraken or any other exchange).

When working with an exchange such as Kraken, you already have you crypto stored in wallets. Unfortunately, you do not have the private keys to them and so, therefore, are vulnerable to hacks such as what happened to MtGox some years ago.
In addition, there are some things that you cannot do such as participate in most ICOs since they require that you hold the private keys to your addresses.

If you want to have full control, you need to have both the private keys and public keys to your wallet. I assume this is the case, so I would recommend purchasing a hardware wallet such as Ledger Nano S or similar (only purchase from legit original store). Hardware wallets are much safer than software downloadable wallets.

What you have to know beforehand though is whether the Wallet you decide to use supports your crypto or not. Legder product page details for example what crypto it supports. On top of that, all ERC-20 tokens are also supported.

If this is all fairly new to you, I suggest you search through posts to find the conceptual background you need first, before moving on to using the wallet you decide to use.
Start by reading this post: https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/diffrent-types-of-wallets-all-have-to-know-this-2852255

This is a difficult question. And tbh, the idea of treating exchanges as wallets has been appealing to me for a long time.

I'll tell you why: Exchanges have 2fa and 2fa for sending out coins too. Your wallet and private keys don't have 2fa unless you're using an expensive hardware wallet.

So even if someone hacks your computer and puts a keylogger, they can't access your exchange without your 2FA.

But exchanges can get hacked, and that's how people can lose their coins.

I personally feel that Coinbase's Vault option is a good wallet. I believe you can't take things out of their vault without 2fa and some other security measure.

Any exchanges are wallets too, but not secure as the default wallets. What I meant by default wallet is official wallets assigned by the coin.

Yes you would. some online wallets you control the bitcoins other they control the bitcoins. So kraken, circle, coinbase they control the bitcoins therefore you need total trust in them.
blockchain.info bitgo.com greenaddress etc you control the bitcoins so you need no trust in them because even they disappear you can still access the coins. The prior are more ideal for those who are new and unsure about security.

Kraken provides wallets for free to all account holders. To see deposit addresses for your wallet, visit the funding > deposit page and select the relevant asset on the left side. You may need to generate a wallet address for one to be visible. Kraken uses cold storage and a hot wallet like many digital asset exchanges, so your sending address for a digital asset will not be the same as your deposit address. Please do not attempt to withdraw digital assets from Kraken if ownership of the sending address is relevant to the transaction (for example, if you're depositing into an initial coin offering (ICO) address, Kraken's hot wallet will be the depositor and not your personal Kraken deposit address).

They are, however, the real question of it is how secure are they? I personally use Paxful and they're the best

The Exchanges (central) are not only wallets, they are targets too. Because they manage and hold a lot of value.
And I guess you already heard of MtGox. Robbery and mismangement only two scenarios, you can loose everything without any influence.

The exchanges allow you to store many cryptos, so you could potentially use them as wallets (read previous posts for safety reasons not to do so). But these would be very expensive wallets as they charge a withdrawal fee that can be high for small amounts (i.e. 5 to 10 USD).

If you are in a hurry, don´t want to go into technical details or learn, don´t trust web wallets and you really need something setup quickly... I guess you could use an exchange.

Kraken supports only a limited number of coins.
If you want to purchase other icos that are not supported you will have to transfer the funds to another exchange.

Once you have purchased coins on the kraken account I suggest you move the coins to a wallet (for better security).

Some services such as Coinbase claim that all the currency that they hold in their exchange are insured against theft and that this insurance policy would cover any customer funds lost, but it’s probably not something that you want to put to the test.So, with the stakes being so high, the safest option is to store your currency in a cryptocurrency wallet.

Hope this helps!

The next problem is, when you store Cryptos at a exchange that they are slow with withdraws especially when you need it :-(

Kraken is an exchange that has a low limit... I recommend you use Paxful.com

Only use online wallets when you live in a country whereas bitcoin is widely used, because you're going to probably need some bitcoin on your phone for you to easily use them. However, if you're just planning on holding on to your bitcoin in a safe and secure manner, surely purchase a hardware wallet like the Trezor[1] or the Ledger Nano S[2].

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[1] https://trezor.io/
[2] https://ledgerwallet.com/

Every exchange offers its wallet. But you should know, that exchanges are quite a touchy subject for certain people and with good reason; a lot of users have arrived too recently to remember the many, many, many exchanges that have fallen victim to hacks, seizures, shut-downs and outright exit scams. There has been millions of dollars stolen by, from and through exchanges over the years and so be careful when you're asking about the most trusted exchanges, because often the biggest exchanges are the ones which fall hardest.

You can buy also Keepkey or Trezor. I prefer Trezor.

Yup, I was reading for Ledger Nano..it's not cost so much

If you have a reasonable amount of money invested in crypto I would invest in a hardware wallet like a Trezor or Ledger Nano. If you want to be really, really safe you can put your crypto in cold storage, but if you are moving your funds around regularly this would not be a very convenient option.

Kraken is an exchange and you can store supported coins on such exchange as well and generate coin addresses to deposit coins, but it is not your private wallet for the coins meaning that if the exchange is down or something you can't access your coins if you have stored them on the exchange.

Oh thanks! that's a nice guide... for you is better hardware wallet or online wallet like blockchain?