Kraken opened in 2011 in San Francisco and is one of the few exchanges from that era still standing. It has never suffered a major breach of its own systems, it has published proof-of-reserves attestations since 2014, and its parent, Payward, filed confidentially for an IPO in late 2025. It serves customers in more than 190 countries and lists several hundred assets. The SEC sued it in 2023 over its staking product and later as an unregistered exchange; both matters ended, the second dismissed in March 2025.
The product has two faces. Kraken Pro is an order book with a published maker and taker schedule, and it is where Kraken's traders live. The Kraken app's Instant Buy is a card checkout that layers a processing fee of about 3.75% on a 1% trade fee and a spread, and it is the price most beginners actually pay. Kraken is custodial, so coins sit in Kraken's wallet until you withdraw, and its most persistent reviews describe accounts locked pending a review that only a ticket can move.
Anytime Capital is a different shape: an American money services business that serves customers worldwide, with a storefront on Piedmont Road in Atlanta, an office in Miami's One Biscayne Tower, a phone number that reaches a person, and every rail you are likely to use, including cash and same-day wire. Coins are delivered to a non-custodial wallet you control. It is not an order book. For a trader, that is a limitation. For a buyer, it is the point.