The group extorting Kraken is claiming access to some client account information after two insider incidents involving customer support staff. Kraken’s Extortion Plot: An Insider-Play Yesterday, on a post on the social network X, Nick Percoco, Kraken’s Chief Security Officer (CSO), made public that a criminal group is extorting the crypto exchange with threats to release videos of their systems exposing client data. Kraken Security Update We are currently being extorted by a criminal group threatening to release videos of our internal systems with client data shown if we do not comply with their demands. It’s important to start with the most important points: our systems were never… — Nick Percoco (@c7five) April 13, 2026 Now, according to Bloomberg, the incident is not a classic external hack, but rather an insider‑access problem. A small set of customer details, such as names and physical addresses, may have been exposed after support employees captured photos and videos of internal screens in two separate incidents, one in 2025 and another earlier this year. Related Reading: Hope For Iran Deal Sparks Risk-On Rally, Bitcoin Nears $75K The company has reportedly warned the potentially affected clients to be especially cautious about anyone contacting them. Bloomberg’s source is a “person familiar with the matter who declined to be named because the details haven’t been made public”. Around 2,000 accounts and roughly 0.02% of users were affected. The exposure is limited to basic support data such as names and addresses. Kraken stresses there was no system hack and client funds and trading infrastructure remain secure. Kraken has openly dismissed the extortion attempt, stating that it “will not pay these criminals” and “will not ever negotiate with bad actors”. Percoco’s post clarifies that Kraken is working with federal law‑enforcement agencies across multiple jurisdictions. and that the CEX has gathered enough evidence to help identify those responsible. A Long List Of CEX’s Customer Services Vulnerabilities Although it may sound rather specific, this is not the first time a big CEX is hit with an insider-access problem that vulnerates customers data through the costumer service of the exchange. It’s not even Kraken’s first rodeo with this sort of issue. Back in January, Dark Web Informer reported that a read-only version of Kraken’s internal customer support system was being sold for a negotiable single dollar on a dark web forum. ???????? Kraken cryptocurrency exchange panel access being sold on a dark web forum – read-only account with user profiles and transaction history. Access details: ▪️ View only – user profiles and transaction history ▪️ Generate support tickets to phish or extract more data ▪️ No… pic.twitter.com/7LsxRNMkYa — Dark Web Informer (@DarkWebInformer) January 1, 2026 Also in mid-2025, Kraken and Binance were hit by the same social‑engineering push that previously led to a successful customer data breach at Coinbase, where attackers zeroed in on support staff. The attackers allegedly approached customer service agents at the exchanges and offered bribes in return for access to user information. Our sister website Bitcoinist covered the story. This past February, a crypto trader claimed an ex‑Revolut staffer tried to blackmail him, threatening to expose his personal data unless he paid. Revolut claimed the allegation was referred to law‑enforcement authorities. Related Reading: XRP Could Face Big Moves Based On CLARITY Act Outcomes – 3 Key Price Scenarios Market Implications This incident reinforces a key market theme: in the post‑ETF, higher‑regulation cycle, “counterparty risk” on centralized exchanges is shifting from pure asset custody to data security and insider controls. While no immediate outflows or price shocks are visible, repeated data‑exposure headlines can push more flows toward exchanges with stronger transparency reports, on‑chain venues, or self‑custody solutions. At the moment of writing, BTC trades for the high $71ks on the daily chart. Source: BTCUSD on Tradingview. Cover image from Perplexity. BTCUSD chart from Tradingview.
Deutsche Börse teamed up with Kraken in December to bridge traditional and digital markets and help expedite institutional cryptocurrency adoption in Europe.
Deutsche Borse Group has taken a $200 million stake in Kraken parent Payward, deepening ties between traditional finance and crypto markets.
The attackers obtained videos showing Kraken support staff accessing internal client support systems and limited client data.
The firm said a criminal group is attempting to extort it over limited insider-related data access incidents affecting about 2,000 accounts. Kraken says it will not pay and is working with law enforcement.
Waters argues that access to critical financial infrastructure should not be granted without full transparency.
Kraken is set to be the first platform to integrate STS’s structured products, according to an announcement on Wednesday.
Kraken's parent company filed a draft S-1 registration statement with the SEC in November regarding the proposed initial public offering of its common stock.
The race for the "everything exchange" makes Wall Street operators and crypto exchanges rivals and partners at the same time.
Bybit previously declined to list the mobile crypto mining platform, with CEO Ben Zhou citing warnings from Chinese police that the project is a scam.
The initiative will reward trading and DeFi use of tokenized stocks as the sector tops $1 billion and gains traction with major exchanges.
The following article is adapted from The Block’s newsletter, The Daily, which comes out on weekday afternoons.
Nasdaq has partnered with Kraken’s parent company Payward to build infrastructure linking tokenized equity markets with blockchain networks.
Nasdaq plans to work with Kraken to distribute tokenized versions of public stocks globally as the exchange pushes to bring blockchain infrastructure into traditional markets.
The Kansas City Fed may term this "Tier 3" access, but Kraken's entry into the vaunted Fed payments system has riled bankers and raised crypto hopes.
xChange is an onchain trading engine and unified execution layer for xStocks issued on Solana and Ethereum.
Kraken has cleared a regulatory hurdle that crypto firms have chased for years: direct access to the Federal Reserve’s core payments infrastructure. On March 4, the exchange said its Wyoming-chartered bank, Kraken Financial, has been granted a Federal Reserve master account, allowing it to settle US dollar payments directly over Fed rails instead of routing […]
The post Kraken just got rare Federal Reserve access in a move crypto firms have chased for years appeared first on CryptoSlate.
The following article is adapted from The Block’s newsletter, The Daily, which comes out on weekday afternoons.
Some crypto advocates argue the decision could open the door to payment-focused financial institutions that operate without traditional deposit-lending models.
Kraken has become the first crypto firm to secure a Federal Reserve master account for its Wyoming-chartered banking unit.
The approval lets Kraken speed up deposits and withdrawals for large traders and institutional clients, but is limited.
These xStocks perps will provide eligible non-U.S. clients in over 110 countries with 24/7 tokenized equities exposure.
The crypto exchange is bringing U.S. stocks closer to the crypto world, letting users trade derivatives of tokenized stocks around-the-clock and with 20x leverage.
At NEARCON 2026, Dragonfly’s Haseeb Qureshi and Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi delivered a sharp debate over how soon those agents can be trusted with real money.
This lifetime transaction total includes about $3.5 billion in onchain trading activity across Solana, Ethereum, and TON.
The deal adds token lifecycle infrastructure to Kraken’s growing product suite.
Kraken acquired the token management platform Magna, marking the exchange’s sixth acquisition over the past 12 months.
Kraken has moved chief financial officer Stephanie Lemmerman to a strategic advisory role, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The Bitwise-managed strategy seeks to generate income from otherwise idle crypto holdings while assets remain within Kraken's custody.
Payward derived about 47% of its revenue from trading operations and the remaining 53% from its growing list of other services.