Kraken has opened its Krak Card to customers in the United States, the exchange said in a post on August 19, adding that it has already issued nearly 135,000 cards across the markets where the product launched first. The announcement came directly from the official Krak account, which is the primary source for this report.
The move extends a card that had been limited to earlier regions into the largest consumer market in crypto. For US account holders, it adds another exchange-backed spending option next to Coinbase and Gemini, both of which already run US card programs.
A card tied to an exchange balance
The Krak Card spends directly from a user's Kraken balance rather than from a separate top-up wallet. That design keeps funds inside the exchange until the moment of purchase, when the balance is converted to settle the transaction. It is the same custodial pattern most exchange cards use: convenient, tied to one account, and dependent on the exchange remaining solvent and operational. Balances sit with Kraken, not in a wallet the cardholder controls, so anyone weighing the card against a spend-from-your-own-wallet option is trading custody for the tighter exchange integration.
Kraken has not published a full US fee and rewards schedule alongside the launch post, so the existing terms from its earlier markets are the reference point until the US pages go live. Prospective applicants in the United States should confirm the exact conversion spread, any monthly caps, and whether rewards are paid before assuming the card matches its prior configuration. On exchange cards, the headline "no fee" claim rarely captures the full cost: a Mastercard network spread and the crypto-to-fiat conversion at the register both sit underneath it.
The 135,000 number in context
The nearly 135,000 cards issued figure is the more concrete part of the announcement. It gives a sense of scale for a product that has run in a smaller regional footprint until now, and it lands in a stretch where Kraken's card business is under sharper scrutiny. Its parent company, Payward, reported $508 million in Q2 revenue while EBITDA fell to $23 million, a sign the company is spending to grow. Pushing the card into the US fits that growth posture.
An issuance count is not a spend count. It tells you how many cards exist, not how much volume runs across them or how many stay active after the first month. Card programs across the sector routinely report large issuance headlines that outrun actual usage, so the figure is best read as a distribution milestone rather than a measure of adoption.
A crowded field for US spenders
US crypto holders already have several routes to spend a balance, and the Krak Card enters a crowded field. Its pitch rests on the exchange tie-in: if funds already live on Kraken, spending them without a separate transfer step is the draw. Whether it beats alternatives comes down to the US reward rate and spread once those are confirmed, alongside how stablecoin balances are handled at the point of sale.
For now, the practical takeaway is narrow and factual. US customers who hold assets on Kraken can apply for the card as of the announcement. Anyone chasing a specific cashback rate should wait for the published US terms before treating it as a rewards play, since the launch post did not attach any numbers to that side of the product.
Overview
Kraken has made its Krak Card available to US customers, the exchange said on August 19, citing nearly 135,000 cards issued across its earlier markets. The card spends crypto and stablecoin balances directly from a Kraken account under a custodial model. US-specific fee and reward terms were not detailed in the announcement, so applicants should confirm the current schedule before committing. The issuance figure marks a distribution milestone, not proven spending volume.
