Staking on Kraken in the US: Which States Qualify, How Rewards Work, and the Real Risks

Yes, you can stake on Kraken in the US, but only if you live in one of the 37 states, plus Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, that Kraken lists as eligible. If you're in California, Texas, New Jersey, Illinois or several other states, the staking option won't appear in your account. Where it is available, Kraken offers bonded and flexible staking on roughly two dozen assets, pays rewards weekly, and keeps a share of what you earn.

Everything here comes from Kraken's support center and staking page as checked on October 29, 2026. Kraken's US quick-start guide was last updated March 30, 2026, and its staking overview August 19, 2026. State lists change, so treat your own account screen as the final answer.

Why US staking disappeared and came back

In February 2023, Kraken shut down its US staking program as part of a settlement with the SEC. On January 30, 2025, Kraken announced a new onchain staking product for US clients. It launched in 37 states and 2 territories with 17 assets, including ETH, SOL, DOT and ADA, and Kraken said it would add states "as permitted."

The word onchain matters. Kraken says it delegates clients' assets to validators that help run each blockchain, and passes the network's rewards back to clients after taking its fee. Your coins are actually staked on the network, not lent out or pooled into an off-chain yield product.

Which US states can use Kraken staking

Kraken's quick-start guide for US clients says onchain staking is only available in these states and territories:

The right-hand column is simply the states missing from Kraken's eligible list. Two of them, New York and Maine, are a different case: Kraken doesn't offer any services to residents of those states, so you can't open an account there at all.

Bonded vs. Flexible vs. Auto Earn

Kraken runs three staking programs. Which ones you see can depend on the asset and the app you use. Kraken says the Kraken Pro app supports Bonded and Flexible, while the main Kraken app supports Bonded and Auto Earn.

Bonded staking

Your coins are locked to the network. You earn the higher of Kraken's two posted rates, but when you unstake you wait through an unbonding period. Kraken says that period is three or more days depending on the asset. During unbonding you can't trade or withdraw the coins, and they stop earning rewards.

Flexible staking

You can unstake at any time with no unbonding wait. The trade-off is lower rewards. For assets that have unbonding periods, Kraken says it earns rewards on up to 50% of what you commit and holds the rest unstaked so it can return your coins instantly. That's why flexible rates on Kraken's staking page are roughly half the bonded rates.

Auto Earn

Turn it on once and Kraken automatically stakes eligible assets in your account through the Flexible program. Rewards compound weekly, and your assets stay available to trade or withdraw.

One asset-specific quirk: Kraken lists Ethereum as bonded-only, with no flexible option. Its ETH restaking program no longer accepts new allocations because EigenLayer stopped issuing EIGEN rewards, though existing users still earn the regular staked-ETH rate.

Which coins you can stake

Kraken's eligibility page lists about two dozen assets. Bonded and flexible are both offered for most of them, including SOL, DOT, ATOM, POL, NEAR, TIA, TRX, XTZ, INJ, GRT, KSM, FLOW and SEI. A few are one-sided: Kraken lists ETH and SUI as bonded only, and ADA and MINA as flexible only. Bitcoin also appears, staked through the Babylon protocol, though Kraken's staking page showed its estimated rate at a fraction of a percent.

Kraken's staking page also shows USD and stablecoins such as USDC and USDT under Auto Earn. Those are rewards programs, not onchain staking, so read the terms for those separately before assuming the same rules apply.

How rewards and Kraken's commission work

Kraken pays staking rewards once a week, with each asset carrying its own rate. There's no fee to stake or unstake. Instead, Kraken takes a commission out of the rewards themselves.

For bonded staking, the commission depends on your total bonded balance at each weekly payout. Kraken's published tiers are 25% up to $1 million, 20% from $1 million to $5 million, 10% from $5 million to $50 million, 5% from $50 million to $100 million, and 0% above that. Flexible and Auto Earn rewards carry a 30% commission at every balance.

The posted APY is not what you take home

Kraken says the APYs it displays are estimates before its commission, based on rewards over a past period. On October 29, 2026, Kraken's staking page showed ETH at 2.98% bonded. As an illustration only: if that rate held for a year on a bonded balance under $1 million, the 25% commission would leave you about 2.24%. Real rates move with network conditions, and Kraken warns that rewards aren't guaranteed and can drop to zero.

The risks worth taking seriously

• Price risk. Staking rewards are paid in the same coin. A 3% reward doesn't help much if the coin falls 30%, and in bonded staking you can't sell during the unbonding wait.
• Slashing. Networks can penalize validators for malicious behavior or technical errors, which can destroy part of the stake. Kraken says it will compensate clients for slashing penalties or unpaid rewards, with exceptions that include your own actions, network maintenance, bugs, hacks and certain rare situations.
• Platform risk. Kraken states it is not a bank, and accounts and staked assets aren't covered by FDIC, SIPC or similar insurance. Kraken also lists hacks as a risk to staking services.
• Rule changes. Protocol upgrades can cut rewards, and Kraken can change which states and assets are eligible.
• Margin effects. If you trade on margin, staked coins are removed from your trading equity, which can lower your free margin.

For a wider view of the trade-offs, see our exchange safety and insurance guide.

Taxes on staking rewards

The IRS treats staking rewards as income in the year you gain control of them, valued at fair market value at that time. That position comes from Revenue Ruling 2023-14. When you later sell the rewarded coins, you'll also have a capital gain or loss measured from that value. Because Kraken pays weekly, you'll have a lot of small income events. Keep Kraken's records or use tax software that imports them, and talk to a tax professional if your numbers are large.

How to start staking on Kraken

1. Check your state. Make sure your verified address is in an eligible state or territory.
2. Verify your account. Kraken requires a verified account for onchain staking. If Staking doesn't show up after verification, Kraken says you may not be eligible.
3. Buy or deposit an eligible coin. Kraken's asset list includes ETH, SOL, DOT, ATOM, ADA, POL, TIA and others.
4. Pick a program. Choose Bonded if you won't need the coins soon, Flexible or Auto Earn if you might.
5. Read the unbonding period for that asset before confirming, and note the estimated rate is before commission.
6. Track rewards for taxes. Export your history at least once a year.

If you're in an excluded state

You can still buy and hold the same coins on Kraken. You just won't earn staking rewards there. Other platforms have their own state lists and terms, so compare them in our best crypto staking platforms roundup before moving anything.