Kraken is offering up to a 2% deposit bonus in October for any customer that deposits $1,000+ in cash or crypto during October. The deposit bonus will vary from 1% to 2% depending on total deposits across all customers, with the strange rule that when $500 million in total aggregate deposits are made and the full 2% deposit is triggered, the entire promo ends immediately, so you need to have participated by then. The bonus will then be paid within 14 days after the promo ends, in their USDG stablecoin.
Net deposits are calculated by total cash and crypto deposited, minus withdrawals during the promotion period. Your deposits earn a 1% match rate, which can boost up to 2% based on community progress. The final rate is set based on the total community net deposit value at the end of the promo (Oct 31 or when $500M is reached).
You must keep your net deposits at Kraken through November 1st, 2026. You can trade your deposit, and market fluctuations are okay as long as you don’t withdraw any funds. Full terms here.
Kraken is best known as a crypto exchange, but as of early 2025 they now offer US stock trading under Kraken Securities through a partnership with Alpaca (press release). The terms say that you can trade your deposits, so technically I don’t see why you couldn’t move your cash to Kraken, buy a T-Bill ETF like SGOV or VBIL (current SEC yields ~4.11% and 4.12%), and basically earn up to an additional 2% APY on your cash for a year.
A 2% deposit bonus for a 12-month hold is a pretty good deal. For me, the main catch is that you have to trust the US regulatory agencies that manage SIPC insurance in case Kraken Securities fails during the next year. ETFs held in an SIPC brokerage account are definitely better than an uninsured crypto account, but I just worry it could be messy, so I’d probably size my risk (deposit amount) accordingly.
If you haven’t already, you should also grab Kraken’s $75 new crypto account bonus and 30 days of free money spins, where I earned almost $20 in random crypto like DOGE and PEPE:
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I think this one requires you to sign up into their stock lending program. Is that a concern here like it was for other accounts you e commented on?
Where do you see that you have to sign up for Stock Lending?
It looks like they are running two promotions at the same time. This one is for depositing cash or crypto, and does not mention stock lending.
There is also a current ACATS transfer promo that requires stock lending: https://support.kraken.com/articles/kraken-acats-transfer-promotion
I was able to get the $75 new account bonus, ~$25 in daily spins over 30 days, a $20 bonus for depositing $50 additional. I’m happy to play their bonus games, but I don’t trust Kraken with a large dollar amount of cash, ETFs, or crypto.