Kraken vs Binance Singapore – Which Platform Is Better?

Last updated on June 6th, 2021

When you are looking to buy crypto from Singapore, you may have noticed 2 different platforms: Kraken and Binance Singapore.

Binance Singapore allows you to buy crypto immediately from SGD, but Kraken does not.

So which platform should you be using?

Here’s what you need to know.

The difference between Kraken and Binance Singapore

Kraken allows you to trade many more currencies on their platform compared to Binance Singapore. However, Binance Singapore’s main advantage is that you are able to buy crypto directly from SGD, as Kraken does not support SGD. You’ll need to balance between the convenience of Binance Singapore against the variety of Kraken.

Here’s an in-depth comparison between these 2 platforms:

Founder

Kraken was founded in 2011. Its headquarters are in the US, and it is one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world.

Meanwhile, Binance Singapore was launched much later in 2019. It was launched as a separate exchange from Binance.com.

Number of currencies

Kraken allows you to trade over 50 currencies on their platform!

This includes common currencies like ETH or LTC, as well as ‘rarer’ altcoins like ADA or DOGE.

The only limitation is that you are unable to trade crypto directly from SGD

Binance Singapore only offers 8 currencies

Meanwhile, Binance Singapore allows you to trade in 8 cryptocurrencies.

This includes:

1. BTC
2. ETH
3. BNB
4. LTC
5. BCH
6. XRP
7. NEO
8. LINK

However, its main advantage is that you are able to buy these currencies directly from SGD!

Methods of funding your account

Here are some ways that you can fund your account on either platform:

Kraken allows you to deposit fiat, but not SGD

For Kraken, you are able to deposit your fiat currencies onto their platform.

However, you can’t deposit SGD into Kraken!

You can deposit other fiat currencies, like:

1. USD
2. EUR
3. JPY

This makes Kraken rather limited as it does not allow you to buy crypto directly from SGD.

You can buy crypto directly from your Xfers wallet with Binance Singapore

Binance Singapore allows you to send SGD using your Xfers account.

Xfers is a payment solution that allows you to transfer your money securely into the crypto exchanges.

It sort of acts like the middleman between your bank accounts and the exchanges.

Since Xfers is directly connected to your Binance Singapore account, you don’t need to transfer your SGD between both platforms.

This saves you the hassle of making one extra transfer!

Buying crypto

After you’ve funded your account, you will need to purchase your crypto. There are a few ways you can do so:

#1 Credit card (Kraken)

You are able to use a credit card to purchase crypto on Kraken.

However, you can’t use SGD to buy crypto on Kraken! As such, you may incur a foreign currency conversion fee.

#2 Instant buy (Binance Singapore)

When you purchase crypto on Binance Singapore, you aren’t able to set the price.

You can only buy the crypto at the prevailing market rate, which you can see on the ‘Buy’ page.

If you check the current price on sites like CoinMarketCap, it may be slightly different from what you see on Binance Singapore.

#3 Trade (Kraken)

Kraken allows you to make trades on their platform.

There are 2 types of orders you can make with Kraken:

1. Limit
2. Market

Limit orders will allow you to determine the price of the crypto that you wish to pay.

Meanwhile, market orders will purchase your crypto at the current market price.

You can make even more types of orders on Kraken’s Advanced platform.

Instead of using the Instant Buy feature, you are able to set the price that you wish to buy your crypto at!

Withdrawal of funds

For Kraken, you are able to withdraw fiat currencies to your bank account.

However, you are unable to withdraw any SGD!

Meanwhile, Binance Singapore only allows you to withdraw to your Xfers wallet.

This is slightly more troublesome as you’ll have to go to Xfers and withdraw your funds to your bank account.

Sending and receiving crypto

For Kraken, you are able to send and receive any of the currencies that are available on their platform.

You are also able to send and receive all currencies on Binance Singapore.

Fees

The most important thing when it comes to trading crypto are the fees. You should try to minimise your fees as much as possible!

Here are some of the fees you may incur when using either platform:

#1 Buying and selling crypto

Here are the fees that you’ll be charged for both exchanges:

Kraken charges up to 0.26% to trade on their platform

When you are trading on Kraken, you will be charged up to 0.26% for each trade you make.

The greater amount of trading you make within 30 days, the lower the fees you’ll need to pay!

The fees are pretty competitive. However, there are other platforms like Binance or Huobi that offer lower fees, with more trading pairs too!

Binance Singapore charges 0.6% for each trade

When you make a buy or sell order on Binance Singapore, you will be charged 0.60%.

The fees you pay with Binance Singapore are more than twice compared to Kraken.

However, you have the convenience of buying crypto directly from SGD!

#3 Sending and receiving fees

You may want to send or receive your crypto from an external wallet.

For Binance Singapore, the withdrawal fees are fixed. This depends on which crypto you’re sending:

Crypto	Withdrawal Fee	Minimum
BTC	0.0004	0.001
ETH	0.01	0.02
BNB	0.001	0.002
LTC	0.001	0.002
BCH	0.001	0.002
XRP	0.25	2
NEO	0	1
LINK	0.7	2

You will not be charged any fees if you want to send NEO.

The same applies for Kraken, which has a fixed fee for each currency you wish to withdraw from the platform.

There is a minimum withdrawal that you’ll need to hit, and the withdrawal fee is fixed too.

If you are withdrawing small sums of crypto each time, the withdrawal fees may be rather hefty!

Both platforms do not charge receiving fees

If you want to receive crypto from an external wallet, no fees are charged by either exchange.

However, you’ll need to consider the fees you incur when sending crypto from your external wallets!

You can consider Gemini which does not charge you any fees for your first 10 withdrawals per month.

Minimum amount to order

For Binance Singapore, you will need to make a minimum purchase of $20 for each order.

Meanwhile, the minimum trade amounts for Kraken depends on the currency.

Other features

Binance Singapore has rather limited features, apart from buying and selling crypto.

In contrast, Kraken allows you to stake some of your crypto too!

You can stake 7 different currencies on Kraken:

1. DOT
2. KSM
3. KAVA
4. ATOM
5. XTZ
6. FLOW
7. ETH

If you want to earn some rewards by staking your crypto, then Kraken may be a better platform for you!

Security

You may have heard of how crypto exchanges can be hacked, and these hackers can steal your crypto!

So how do these exchanges try and combat this?

Kraken stores most of your assets in cold storage

Kraken stores 95% of all of its assets in cold storage. Even if hackers gain access to their platform, they will not have access to all of your assets.

So far, Kraken has not been hacked, which is rather promising.

This is because other large crypto platforms like Binance or Coinmama have been hacked before.

As such, Kraken’s platform seems pretty secure!

Binance Singapore does not disclose their security measures

Unlike Kraken, Binance Singapore does not disclose the security measures they have put in place. This may be slightly worrying if you are very concerned about security.

Binance.com faced a security breach in 2019. However, Binance Singapore declared that the breach did not affect their exchange.

Although the platform is quite new, Binance Singapore has not been hacked so far.

Platforms

Kraken has a web platform,

as well as two mobile apps: Kraken,

and Kraken Pro.

Meanwhile, Binance Singapore only has a web platform.

Overall, Kraken has a better user experience compared to Binance Singapore.

Verdict

Here is a comparison between Kraken and Binance Singapore:

	Kraken	Binance Singapore
Year Founded	2011	2019
HQ	US	Singapore
Number of Currencies	50+	8
Funding Methods	Bank transfer (but does not support SGD)	Xfers
Methods of Buying	Credit / Debit Card Trading Platform	SGD Wallet
Withdrawal of Funds	Bank transfer (but does not support SGD)	Xfers
Deposit Fees	Depends on currency	None
Withdrawal Fees	Depends on currency	None
Trading Fees	Up to 0.26%	0.60%
Sending Fees	Depends on currency	Depends on currency
Minimum Per Trade	Depends on currency	SGD $20
Staking Feature	Present	Absent
Security	Cold storage + hot wallet	Not specified
Platforms	Web + 2  mobile apps	Web only

So which platform should you choose? Ultimately, both platforms cater to very different needs:

Choose Kraken for more features and lower fees

Kraken’s advantage is its lower trading fees. Moreover, you are able to buy many more currencies compared to Binance Singapore!

The main issue with Kraken is that it does not support SGD.

As such, the 2 main ways you can consider funding your Kraken account include:

1. Sending another fiat currency (e.g. USD)
2. Sending a cryptocurrency from another platform (e.g. BTC)

If you are looking to send over BTC to Kraken, you may want to consider Gemini. This is because you’ll incur rather low fees:

1. 0.35% when trading between SGD and BTC (on Gemini Active Trader)
2. 0% sending fees (if you make ≤ 10 withdrawals a month)

Moreover, Kraken has a staking feature, which allows you to earn rewards from staking your crypto!

Choose Binance Singapore if you want to buy crypto from SGD

Binance Singapore allows you to buy many currencies directly from SGD.

This makes it really convenient, as you do not have to send your crypto to another platform!

Although the fees are much higher, it may be worth paying them to reduce the sending fees you’ll potentially incur.

Overall, Binance Singapore is great if you just want to buy crypto, and hold them for the long term.

Conclusion

Both platforms offer you a way to purchase cryptocurrencies in Singapore.

In the end, the platform that you should choose may depend on these factors:

1. The currency that you wish to buy
2. The fees that you are willing to pay
3. The ability to deposit SGD

Are you passionate about personal finance and want to earn some flexible income?