Legal

Privacy Notice

Last Updated: 28 October 2024

For residents of the United States and US Territories, please refer to the US Privacy Notice
 

1. Introduction

This privacy notice applies to the processing activities performed by Kraken to the personal data of its clients, prospective clients, and website visitors. 

Your privacy is of the utmost importance to us. It is our policy to safeguard the confidentiality of information and respect the privacy of individuals. 

Please see below for information about how we manage personal data, and for information about your rights with respect to the processing of your personal data.

 

2. Definitions

The following terms are defined as follows:

2.1 “AML” means anti-money laundering. 

2.2 “Digital Asset” means any digital representation of value that may be traded via Kraken’s services, excluding non-fungible tokens.

2.3 “Kraken”, “We”, “Us”, refers collectively to Payward, Inc. and its subsidiaries.

2.4 “Personal data” refers to any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person, including names, identification numbers, location data, an online identifier, or to one or more factors specific to the physical, economic, cultural or social identity of a natural person.

 

3. Your Data Controller

Our products and services are provided through local operating entities that are part of the Kraken group of companies.

You are contracting with Kraken as specified in our Terms of Service. The company you are contracting with is your Data Controller, and is responsible for the collection, use, disclosure, retention and protection of your personal data in accordance with our global privacy standards, this Privacy Notice, as well as any applicable national laws.

 

4. How do we protect personal data?

Kraken takes the security of personal data incredibly seriously. For additional information on our information security practices, please click here, and for general security information, click here.

 

5. Information we may collect about you

We obtain information about you in a number of ways through your use of our products and services, our websites, the account opening process, webinar sign-up forms, event subscribing, news and updates subscribing and from information provided in the course of on-going support service communications.

In order to open an account with us, you must first complete and submit a “create account” form. By completing this form, you are requested to disclose personal data in order to enable Kraken to assess your application and comply with applicable laws and regulations.

The minimum information required for entering into a contract governing your use of our products and services, and for enabling us to comply with our statutory obligations in respect of anti-money laundering and crime and fraud prevention, is "Biographical information and contact information", "Financial Information", "PEP information", and "Verification information" (each defined below). Without this information, we cannot commence, or continue to perform our services or provide our products to you.

The information that we collect from you is as follows:

  • Full name, residential address and contact details (e.g. email address, telephone number etc.), date of birth, place of birth, gender, citizenship (“Biographical information and contact information”);
  • Bank account information, wallet addresses, credit card details, details about your source of funds, assets and liabilities, and information relating to economic and trade sanctions lists (“Financial information”);
  • Trading account balances, trading activity (such as whether you participate in Kraken's VIP program, and custodial activity), your inquiries and our responses (“Trading information”);
  • Information on whether you (or someone close to you) holds a prominent public function (“PEP information”);
  • Verification information, which includes information necessary to verify your identity such as a passport, driver’s licence, selfie photos / videos, login credentials or Government-issued identity card, which may be processed using technologies that extract biometric data (“Verification information”);
  • Other personal data or commercial and/or identification information – Information we, in our sole discretion, deem necessary to comply with our legal obligations under various AML obligations, such as under the European Union’s 5th AML Directive and the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act (“Other information”).

Information we collect about you automatically:

  • Browser information – Information that is automatically collected via analytics systems providers from your browser, including your IP address, domain name, any external page that referred you to us, your login information, browser type and version, time zone setting, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system, and platform (“Browser information”);
  • Log information – Information that is generated by your use of Kraken-branded websites, applications, services, or tools operated by Kraken that is automatically collected and stored in our log records. This may include device information such as device identifier, device operating system and model, device storage, Media Access Control (MAC) address and Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) information, signals relating to user behaviour and device interaction, marketing identifier, battery usage, location information, network address, system activity and any internal and external information related to pages that you visit, including the full Uniform Resource Locators (URL) clickstream to, through and from our Website or App (including date and time, page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information such as scrolling, clicks, and mouse-overs, and methods used to browse away from the page (“Log information”).

Information we receive about you from other sources.

We also receive information about you from third parties such as your payment providers, our service providers assisting with AML, fraud, and security compliance, and through publicly available sources. For example:

  • The banks you use to transfer money to us will provide us with your basic personal data, such as your name and address, as well as your financial information such as your bank account details.
  • Your business partners may provide us with your name and address, as well as financial information.
  • Advertising networks, analytics providers and search information providers may provide us with anonymized or de-identified information about you, such as confirming how you found our website. 
  • Our service providers may provide us with information relating to fraud, security, sanctions and AML and other risks, for example, confirmation of identity attributes, and information about any attributes linked to such matters. 
  • Credit reference agencies may provide us with your personal data during the credit referencing process.
  • We may read and store data that is written on a blockchain, other publicly available ledgers, or is otherwise in the public domain.

 

6. Our legal justification for processing personal data

Why we process your personal data

Legal justification

Categories of personal data

To provide our products and services, including payment processing and to enable the completion of the client on-boarding process

Performance of a contract

Biographical information and contact information, financial information, trading information, PEP information (where relevant), verification information and other information.

To conduct or arrange for the conducting of credit or identity checks

Legal obligation to comply with Know Your Customer ("KYC") and customer due diligence regulatory obligations. Such processing is also in our legitimate interest to prevent and detect potential crime and/or fraud and to protect our business.

Biographical information and contact information, financial information, trading information, PEP information (where relevant), verification information and other information.

For the purposes of identity verification, compliance with court orders, tax laws or other reporting obligations and anti-money laundering controls.

Legal obligation to comply with anti-money laundering laws, financial services laws, corporation laws, privacy laws, tax laws and other relevant laws. There is a substantial public interest in complying with the aforementioned laws. Supervisory authorities’ rules and regulations also apply to us.

Biographical information and contact information, financial information, trading information, PEP information (where relevant), verification information, biometric data extracted from verification information (see here for more information) and other information.

To administer our products and services, to provide you with information in respect of our products and services and review your ongoing needs, to troubleshoot our products and services, to improve our products and services and to develop new products and services.

In order to ensure effective provision of our products and services and to meet our clients’ needs it is in our legitimate interest to administer our products and services, to provide you with information about our products or services, to test troubleshoot our products and services and to review our clients’ ongoing needs. It is also in our legitimate interest to improve our products and services, including support services and to develop and market new products and services.

Biographical information and contact information, financial information, trading information, PEP information (where relevant), verification information, other information, browser information and log information.

To personalize our products and services, and your experience on our website and in our apps, including tailoring the content and recommendations we provide to you

It is in our legitimate interest to personalize our products and services, and your experience on our website and in our apps, including tailoring the content and recommendations we provide to you

Biographical information and contact information, financial information, trading information, PEP information (where relevant), verification information, other information, browser information and log information

To pay affiliates (our partners that promote Kraken and drive new business leads)

It is in our legitimate interest to use affiliates to engage new business leads, and pay those affiliates if the leads generate revenue.

De-identified trading information

To market our products and services

Consent, where you have agreed to receive marketing messages directly. We rely upon our legitimate interest to process information about how our products, services, and blockchain technology are used to decide on marketing strategies.

Biographical information and contact information, trading information, other information, browser information and log information

To conduct surveys 

It is in our legitimate interest to send you surveys and conduct such surveys in order to gather information on how our products and services are working for our clients and how to improve our products and services. Your participation in those surveys will be on the basis of your consent.

Biographical information and contact information, trading information, other information, browser information and log information

To conduct data analysis. Our website pages and emails may contain web beacons or pixel tags or any other similar types of data analysis tools that allow us to track receipt of correspondence and count the number of users that have visited our webpage or opened our correspondence. We may aggregate your personal data with the personal data of our other clients on a de-identified basis (that is, with your personal identifiers removed), so that more rigorous statistical analysis of general patterns may lead us to providing better products and services.

If your personal data is completely anonymised, we do not require a legal basis as the information will no longer constitute personal data. If your personal data is not in an anonymised form, it is in our legitimate interest to continually evaluate that personal data to ensure that the products and services we provide are relevant to the market and our clients.

Biographical information and contact information, financial information, trading information, other information, browser information and log information

To ensure accurate physical address records are submitted during account creation, we utilize Google’s address confirmation services

It is in our legitimate interest to ensure the addresses clients submit are accurate. For additional information, please see Google’s privacy notice

Address information 

For internal business purposes and recordkeeping

We have legal obligations to keep certain records. Such processing is in our legitimate interest for internal business and research purposes as well as for record keeping purposes. It is also in our legitimate interest to keep records to ensure that you comply with your contractual obligations pursuant to the agreement (“Terms of Service”) governing our relationship with you.

Biographical information and contact information, financial information, trading information, PEP information (where relevant), verification information, other information, browser information and log information

To enforce and defend our rights including initiating legal claims, preparing our defense in litigation procedures, addressing legal or administrative proceedings whether before a court or a statutory body and to investigate or settle issues, enquiries and/or disputes.

It is in our legitimate interest to enforce and defend our rights and to ensure that issues, enquiries and/or disputes are investigated and resolved in a timely and efficient manner.

Biographical information and contact information, financial information, trading information, PEP information (where relevant), verification information, other information, browser information and log information

To comply with applicable laws, subpoenas, court orders, other judicial process, or the requirements of any applicable regulatory authorities

Legal obligation. We will disclose personal data where we receive a legally binding request to disclose personal data from law enforcement or other bodies or where we have a legitimate interest in assisting law enforcement or other agencies in respect of an investigation.

Biographical information and contact information, financial information, trading information, PEP information (where relevant), verification information, other information, browser information and log information

To set our general pricing strategy, and to dynamically set the prices of certain products and services

 

It is in our legitimate interests to utilise personal data to set our general pricing strategy, and to dynamically set the prices of certain products and services.  For further information about our approach to pricing, please see our Terms of Service and Fee Schedule.

Financial information, trading information

 

To notify you of changes to our products or services and/or to laws and regulatory rules and regulations

Legal obligation. Often the law requires us to advise you of certain changes to products or services or laws. We may need to inform you of changes to the terms or the features of our products or services. We need to process your personal data to send you these legal notifications. You will continue to receive this information from us even if you choose not to receive direct marketing information from us. Where such notification is not legally required, it may be in our legitimate interest to notify you of such changes.

Biographical information and contact information, financial information, trading information, PEP information (where relevant) and other information

For the purposes of a prospective merger, acquisition, or sale of all or part of our business or assets

It is in our legitimate interest to explore and execute on potential mergers, acquisitions and sales of all or part of our business or assets

Biographical information and contact information, financial information, trading information, PEP information (where relevant), verification information, other information, browser information and log information

To administer our business effectively such as through means and processes we undertake to provide for our IT and system security, preventing potential crime and to ensure asset security and access controls

It is in our legitimate interest to protect our assets and systems and to prevent and detect potential crime and/or fraud and to ensure security

Biographical information and contact information, financial information, trading information, PEP information (where relevant), verification information, other information, browser information and log information

To update and verify your personal data in accordance with relevant anti-money laundering compliance frameworks.

Legal obligation. Such processing is also in our legitimate interests to prevent and detect potential crime and/or fraud and to protect our business.

Biographical information and contact information, financial information, trading information, PEP information (where relevant), verification information, other information, browser information and log information

To better customize our services and content for you and to recognise you as a client.

When we collect personal data for these purposes through the use of cookies, we will rely on your consent. It is also in our legitimate interest to customize our services and content for clients and to recognise clients, in order to ensure that clients receive the services and content that are appropriate to them.

Other information, browser information and log information

To communicate with you

It is in our legitimate interest to communicate with our clients or potential clients to ensure the effective delivery of our products and services and to administer our business.

Biographical information and contact information, financial information, trading information and other information

To receive services from third parties including services such as administrative, legal, tax, compliance, insurance, IT, debt-recovery, analytics, credit reference, identity verification, research or other services

It is generally in our legitimate interest to receive such services from third parties to ensure the effective delivery of our products and services and to administer and protect our business.

Biographical information and contact information, financial information, trading information, PEP information (where relevant), verification information, other information, browser information and log information

For any purpose not specified above, but for which you direct us to process your personal data

Consent

Biographical information and contact information, financial information, trading information, PEP information (where relevant), verification information, other information, browser information and log information

To the extent legitimate interest or performance of a contract is not a recognized legal justification in your jurisdiction, we rely on consent (express or implied, as appropriate) where consent is required.

7. Disclosure of your personal data

As part of processing your personal data for the purposes set out above, Kraken may disclose your personal data to any members of the Kraken company group, and to third parties. For example, Kraken may disclose your personal data to any of our service providers and business partners, for business or other legitimate purposes, such as specialist advisors who have been contracted to provide us with administrative, financial, legal, tax, compliance, insurance, IT, debt-recovery, analytics, research or other services.

If Kraken discloses your personal data to service providers and business partners, in order to perform the services requested by clients or to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations, such providers and partners may store your personal data within their own systems. We require them to protect the confidentiality of this personal data, and comply with all relevant privacy and data protection laws.

Kraken may also disclose personal data when it is compelled by law, for example to a government agency as a result of a valid court order.

 

8. Where we store your personal data

Our operations are supported by a network of computers, servers, other infrastructure and information technology, and third-party service providers. We and our third-party service providers and business partners store and process your personal data in the European Union, Japan, Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and elsewhere in the world. Courts, law enforcement and security agencies of these jurisdictions may be able to use legal processes to access your personal data.

 

9. For UK & EEA clients: Transfers of personal  data outside of the European Economic Area (EEA) and the United Kingdom (UK)

We may transfer your personal data outside the EEA and UK to other Kraken group companies, service providers and business partners. Transfers outside of the EEA or the UK (as appropriate) are done in accordance with lawful transfer mechanisms. If personal data is transferred to a country which has been found by the European Commission to have an essentially equivalent standard of data protection to the EEA, then Kraken may rely on an ‘adequacy decision’ to transfer that personal data. See here for a list of countries with adequacy decisions. If personal data is transferred from the EEA or UK to the US, we may rely on Standard Contractual Clauses. 

 

10. Privacy when using digital assets and blockchains

Your use of digital assets may be recorded on a public blockchain. Public blockchains are distributed ledgers, intended to immutably record transactions across wide networks of computer systems. Many blockchains are open to forensic analysis which can lead to re-identification of transacting individuals and the revelation of personal data, especially when blockchain data is combined with other data.

As blockchains are decentralized or third-party networks which are not controlled or operated by Kraken, we are not able to erase, modify, or alter personal data on such networks.

 

11. Data retention

When personal data is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it may lawfully be processed, we will remove any details that will identify you, or we will securely destroy the relevant records. We may need to maintain records for a significant period of time after you cease being our client for legal or regulatory reasons, for example, when we need to retain information to help manage a dispute or legal claim. Additionally, we are subject to certain anti-money laundering laws which may require us to retain the following for a period (e.g., 5 years) after our business relationship with you has ended:
 

  • A copy of the records we used in order to comply with our client due diligence obligations;
  • Supporting evidence and records of transactions with you, and your relationship with us.

If you have opted out of receiving marketing communications, we will keep your information on our suppression list to ensure that you do not receive these messages.

We may keep your personal data for longer than 5 years if we cannot delete it for legal, regulatory, or technical reasons.

 

12. Cookies

Cookies are small text files that provide information regarding the device used by a visitor. Click on Cookie Settings in the footer of this page for additional detail on the types of cookies this website uses and why, and to adjust your Cookie Settings. Cookie information does not usually directly identify you, but it can give you a more personalized web experience. Because we respect your right to privacy, you can choose not to allow some types of cookies although doing so may impact website functionality.

 

13. Your rights regarding your personal data

The rights that are available to you in relation to the personal data we process are outlined below. You may request to exercise these rights subject to any limitations provided for under applicable data protection laws. 

Access

You can ask us to confirm whether we are processing your personal data and, if so, what information we process. Should you wish to obtain a copy of that information, please contact [email protected].

Rectification

It is important to us that your personal data is up to date. We will take all reasonable steps to make sure that your personal data remains accurate, complete and up-to-date. Please inform us if your personal data changes. If the personal data we hold about you is inaccurate or incomplete, you are entitled to have it rectified. If we have disclosed your personal data to others, we will let them know about the rectification where possible. If you ask us, and if possible and lawful to do so, we will also inform you with whom we have shared your personal data.

You may inform us at any time if your personal details have changed by emailing us at [email protected]. Subject to applicable law, Kraken will update your personal data in accordance with your instructions. To proceed with such requests, in some cases we may need supporting documents from you as proof, i.e. personal data that we are required to keep for regulatory or other legal purposes.

Erasure

You can ask us to delete or remove your personal data in certain circumstances. Such requests may be subject to any retention limits we are required to comply with in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. If we have disclosed your personal data to others, we will let them know about the erasure request where possible. If you ask us, and if possible and lawful to do so, we will also inform you with whom we have shared your personal data.

Processing restrictions

You can ask us to block or suppress the processing of your personal data in certain circumstances such as if you contest the accuracy of that personal data or object to us processing it. It will not stop us from storing your personal data. If we have disclosed your personal data to others, we will let them know about the restriction of processing if possible. If you ask us, and if possible and lawful to do so, we will also inform you with whom we have shared your personal data.

Data portability

In certain circumstances you may have the right to obtain personal data you have provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format, and to re-use it elsewhere or ask us to transfer this to a third party of your choice, where technically feasible.

Objection

You can ask us to stop processing your personal data, and we will do so, if we are:

  • Relying on our own or someone else’s legitimate interests to process your personal data except if we can demonstrate compelling legal grounds for the processing or for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims;
  • Processing your personal data for direct marketing; or
  • Processing your personal data for research unless we reasonably believe such processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out for reasons of public interest (such as by a regulatory or enforcement agency).

Automated decision-making and profiling

If we have made a decision about you based solely on an automated process (e.g. through automatic profiling) that affects your ability to access our products and services or has another significant effect on you, you can request not to be subject to such a decision unless we can demonstrate to you that such decision is necessary for entering into, or the performance of, a contract between you and us. Even if a decision is necessary for entering into or performing a contract, you may contest the decision and require human intervention. We may not be able to offer our products or services to you, if we agree to such a request (i.e. end our relationship with you).

Complaints

You have the right to complain to a competent data protection authority. Contact details are set out in Section 17 below. We ask that you first contact [email protected] to give us an opportunity to address any concerns. 

Withdraw consent

You have the right to withdraw consent to processing based on consent at any time. Note this will not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent prior to the withdrawal of consent or on grounds where consent is not required. 

 

14. Changes to this privacy notice

Our privacy notice is reviewed regularly in light of new regulations, technologies, and any changes to our business operations. Any personal data we process will be governed by our most recent privacy notice. We will update the “Last updated” date accordingly at the beginning of this privacy notice. Please review this privacy notice from time to time. We will announce any material changes to this privacy notice on our website. 

 

15. Our products and services are not available to children

Our products and services are not directed to persons under the age of 18 (herein, “Children”, “Child”) and we do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If we learn that we have inadvertently processed personal data from a child, we will take legally permissible measures to remove that data from our records. Kraken will require the child user to close his or her account and will not allow the use of our products and services. If you are a parent or guardian of a child, and you become aware that a child has provided personal data to us, please contact us at [email protected].

 

16. Contact information

Any questions, complaints, comments and requests regarding this privacy notice are welcome and should be addressed to [email protected]. You can also contact our Data Protection Officer at [email protected]

 

17. Data Protection Authorities

If you are not satisfied with our response to your complaint, you have the right to submit a complaint to a competent data protection authority. Examples of relevant data protection authorities are listed below:

For residents of Australia:

Office of the Australian Privacy Commissioner
GPO Box 5218,
Sydney, NSW 2001, Australia

For residents of Bermuda:

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner 
4th Floor Maxwell Roberts Building
1 Church Street 
Hamilton, HM11
Bermuda

For residents of Canada:

Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
30, Victoria Street
Gatineau, QC K1A 1H3, Canada

For residents of the United Kingdom:

The Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House, Water Ln
Wilmslow SK9 5AF, UK

For residents of the European Economic Area:

You may complain to your local supervisory authority or to our lead supervisory authority the Irish Data Protection Commission:

Data Protection Commission
21 Fitzwilliam Square South
Dublin 2
D02 RD28
Ireland

For clients of Kraken Futures (Singapore):

Personal Data Protection Commission
10 Pasir Panjang Road,
#03-01 Mapletree Business City Singapore 117438