Exchange Kraken (Kraken). Review. Commission. How to trade

Kraken cryptocurrency exchange: a brief history of its formation

The exchange began its work back in 2011. Its main founder and CEO was Jesse Powell, who remains in office to this day.

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For several years, the site did not particularly stand out from its competitors, but in 2014 its popularity increased sharply. The fact is that after the scandalous bankruptcy of the MtGox exchange, it was Kraken’s management who were tasked with investigating the loss of bitcoins from its accounts, compensating for customer losses, and even exchanging cryptocurrency for fiat money, if necessary.

All MtGox users who want to return lost funds registered on the Kraken cryptocurrency exchange and continued to work on this platform.

Then the popularity of the exchange only grew. The exchange was the first to undergo a cryptographic audit, showed excellent results and received positive reviews from both top-rated American media and top blockchain publications (TradeBlock, TheBlogChain and others).

Moreover, the famous financial company Bloomberg began broadcasting a summary of the cryptocurrency rate on Kraken.

In 2017, the exchange acquired several BTC exchange services (CleverCoin, Coinsetter and Cavirtex), a service for selecting a Bitcoin wallet (Glidera) and the popular trading platform Cryptowatch.

As a result, the platform significantly increased its weight in the market and attracted the attention of many traders.

Kraken development history

The marketplace was founded in early 2011 by Jesse Powell, who is currently its CEO. It is a popular cryptocurrency exchange and trading platform headquartered in San Francisco (USA). Official website: www.kraken.com .

In 2013, Kraken became the first exchange to switch to the standard Bitcoin protocol (XBT). This led to an exclusive partnership with BaFin, which controls the German bank Fidor Bank. In October 2013, former head of operations Michael Gronager discovered a fatal flaw in the Namecoin protocol. This flaw would lead to transaction malleability if the transaction ID changes under certain conditions.

At the beginning of 2020, Kraken launched Monero trading and updated the trading platform. This was followed by the acquisition of the Cryptowatch rate monitoring service.

Despite collaborating with some governments and major banks, the exchange does not allow these relationships to disrupt the decentralized nature of the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

This service was the first whose trading information, including rates and trading volumes, was displayed on the Bloomberg trading board. The recognition of Kraken's quality of work is also supported by the fact that it was the first trading platform to undergo verification of the cryptographic technologies used.

Exchange overview

The crypto exchange works with popular and promising currencies:

dollars;
Euro;
Japanese yen;
pounds;
Canadian dollars;
popular cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Ethereum Classic, Dash, etc.).

Platform languages: English and Japanese.

Trading volume:

In various ratings (Coinmarketcap, Bestbitcoinexchange, etc.), Kraken ranks 25th in terms of daily trading volume ($75 million).
More than half of this volume comes from pairs: Bitcoin/€, Ripple/€, Ethereum/€.

Kraken Features:

Provides a margin trading option (x5 leverage with the ability to accept long and short positions).
It is considered one of the most reliable crypto exchanges. Has two-phase authentication (not only when logging into your account, but also to gain access to transactions). It is also possible to use identification by Google account and location.
There is a complex and lengthy verification process, the absence of which makes working on the stock exchange almost impossible.
The amount of commissions depends on the trading volume. In general, the tariffs of the Kraken platform are among the most reasonable.
The exchange is focused on the USA, Canada and EU countries. In this regard, the Russian language is not available, verification, as well as depositing and withdrawing funds for residents of Russia and the former CIS countries are not the most convenient.

Exchange Kraken – registration

To get to kraken, you need to follow this link, it will take you to the official kraken website. The site has an English-language interface and you can choose British English, or American English, if you want more exotic, then choose Japanese. The lack of Russian language is not a problem, because the buttons and sections inside the office and the site are located in such a way that even on an intuitive level you can find everything that interests you. If it doesn’t work out, then read the review further, we will help you figure it out.

How to top up your account

To deposit funds, you must have the 1st or 2nd level of verification (more on this below in the verification section).
The balance replenishment page opens when you click the “Deposit” button (or go to the “Funding” tab). The same page displays the restriction on depositing funds for a given verification level. If it is exceeded, the system blocks the balance.
Replenishment of funds with cryptocurrency or fiat is available from a Kraken partner bank card.
The platform charges a commission for input (on average, from 0 to 10 $).

Replenishment and withdrawal of funds

To fund your Kraken account:

On your page, find the Funding or Deposit section.
Select the cryptocurrency you want to fund (it's worth noting that Bitcoin is not labeled BTC here, but XBT, which is in line with international standards. But don't worry, it's still the same Bitcoin).
If you are replenishing for the first time, click Generate New Address.
Transfer funds from your wallet to the generated address.

If you want to withdraw funds, next to Deposit, select Withdraw, and then indicate the withdrawal amount and your wallet address.

How to withdraw money from Kraken

The exchange does not work with payment systems popular in the Russian Federation (WebMoney, Yandex.Money, QIWI, etc.).

Available withdrawal methods:

SEPA (replenishment in euros for EU countries);
Bank transfers in dollars and euros;
Transfers in yen for Japan;
SWIFT transfers for Canadian dollars.

The same methods are used to deposit funds onto the platform.

Withdrawal of funds is carried out in the “Funding” or “Withdraw” tabs (after passing the 1st level of verification).
The fee for withdrawing fiat currency ranges from $1 to $60. It reaches maximum values when withdrawing funds outside the USA, Japan and EU countries.

How to withdraw funds?

To withdraw funds from your Kraken account, you need to go to “Account” – “Funding” – “Withdraw” and select an account. To transfer cryptocurrency to your wallet, you need to save the address to which the funds will be sent, and then initiate the transaction, indicating only the amount. Minimum withdrawal amount:

Bitcoin – 0.005 BTC;
tether – 10 USDT;
Litecoin – 0.01 LTC;
ether – 0.01 ETH;
Bitcoin Cash Cash – 0.001 BCH;
dogecoin – 50 DOGE.

To withdraw fiat money, you need to enter information about the recipient's account and the bank in which this account is registered. Possible withdrawal methods:

EUR SEPA;
USD Bank Wire;
EUR Bank Wire;
JPY Bank;
CAD EFT.

Processing of applications takes from 1 to 5 business days.

Review of the official website

Official Kraken website:

Website address: www.kraken.com.
The interface is complicated for beginners and is not adapted for Russian-speaking audiences.
There is a wide selection of instruments for concluding transactions (transactions with real currency and margin trading are possible).
Technical support is available in English and Japanese. Requests take a long time to process and often remain unresolved, but you can always use the local directory, which contains answers to all the popular questions on the site.
There are no restrictions on citizenship or deposit size on the site.

How to register?

When registering, fill out the standard form in such cases:

login;
password (8 characters, including numbers, letters and special characters);
Email.

To strengthen your account security, it is recommended to immediately:

enter your country of residence and time zone;
come up with a super password (an additional set of characters, a phrase or a PIN code);
send an encrypted registration letter using the PGP system.

Personal Area

enter the user name (User Name);
enter password (Password);
use an additional code (if two-factor authentication is enabled (Two factor Austhenticstoin). press LOG IN.

Useful cabinet options:

Button Two - Factor Authentication on the Security tab - for additional account security settings and managing two-factor authentication.
Trading (follow the Setup link) - to enable additional protection for buy and sell orders.
Funding option - additional protection when replenishing your account or withdrawing money.
Master key — master password (recovering login to the platform, bypassing two-level authentication).

How to register on Kraken

Registration on the Kraken exchange is carried out after clicking the “Sign up” button in two stages:

Filling out the registration form – email, username and password of 8 characters (letters, numbers and +-$ signs). If you select “Advanced options”, you can immediately specify your country/city of residence, time zone and, optionally, create a master key or provide a PGP key for receiving encrypted letters.
Activate your account by entering the code from the letter received by email or following the link.

For any further actions on the site, after logging in you need to go through verification.

How to trade on Kraken

To start trading, you need to go to the Trade tab. Here you can also find:

balance data (Overview tab);
the ability to open a new order (New Order tab);
information about available positions (Positions tab);
overview of all open and closed orders (Orders tab);
archive of completed transactions (Trades tab).

Trading and commissions for orders

Kraken's trading interface is located in the "Trade" section. The “Overview” tab contains statistical information about accounts, “New order” – an application form to buy or sell assets, “Orders” – active and executed orders, “Position” – a list of open and closed positions, “Trades” – records of trading transactions. Analysis tools open in a separate window, their button is located in the top panel next to the selected currency pair.

Traders have three order creation modes available to them.

Simple. You can create simple orders - limit or market.
Intermediate. In addition to simple orders, it is possible to set the time for placing an order and the deadline for its execution - good-untill-canceled, good-this-day (week, month) or custom settings.
Advanced. In addition to the previous functions, advanced order types become available - stop-loss, take-profit and settle-position.

A stop loss is typically used as a closing order to limit losses or lock in profits on a long or short position. To activate this function, you need to set the “Stop price” or “Limit price” at which the limit will be triggered.

Take profit is a stop command used to reduce a trader’s risks; it places an order when the market reaches a specified absolute price or percentage. To activate, you need to set the target price “Profit price” at which the order should be launched, or the limit price “Limit price” for a limit order.

Kraken cryptocurrency exchange: orders and commissions

At different periods, Kraken management either added new orders or removed them back. There are currently several orders operating on the exchange:

Market – a transaction is opened at the current market value.
Limit – a transaction is opened at a price below the market value when purchasing assets and above the market value when selling them.
Stop loss – triggered when the stop price is reached.
Take profit – triggers when the specified price is reached or exceeded.

The exchange commission for transactions depends on the total trading turnover of the user over the last month and the status of the trader.

For makers it is 0-0.16%, and for takers – 0-0.26% of the transaction amount. Previously, the minimum commission was 0.2%, but last year the management reduced it in order to popularize the exchange.

Main characteristics

Official site	https://kraken.com
Social media
Location	San Francisco, USA
Founder	Jesse Powell
Year of foundation	2011
Deposit/withdrawal method	Cryptocurrency, fiat
Available cryptocurrencies and tokens	Bitcoin, Tether, Ripple, Lumen (total 21 coins)
Number of trading pairs	More than 70
Own token	No
Commissions	0.16% for makers 0.26% for takers
Languages
Verification	3-level, mandatory
Mobile app	Google Play (unofficial version)

Margin trading on Kraken

The exchange provides the ability to choose leverage (i.e., the amount of cryptocurrency that the platform will lend to the user depending on his balance). Here you can request leverage, which increases the order amount from 2 to 5 times. In this case, the profit from the transaction increases. But the loss, if any, will also be increased several times. The commission for margin trading is set separately for each pair (on average, 0.005 of the order amount (charged every 4 hours while the order is open).

Assets on the Kraken exchange

Kraken is meticulous in its selection of digital assets, so traders who have experience trading on Binance, for example, may find listings on this exchange rather sparse.

Kraken currently offers margin trading for eight cryptocurrencies. The available leverage for them is at least 2x. Maximum leverage (5x) is only available for Bitcoin, Ether or XRP.

In general, Kraken is aimed at traders who trade top cryptocurrency assets and is not suitable for those who are “looking for X’s” among tokens and little-known projects.

The exchange is consistently ranked among the top 50 exchanges in terms of trading volume on CoinMarketCap. The vast majority of volumes come from BTC/USD, BTC/EUR, ETH/USD, and ETH/EUR trades (about 75% of Kraken's daily trading volume). Daily volume on the exchange is around $100 million. However, less popular trading pairs have liquidity issues, so again, this is not the best option for those dealing with lesser-known digital assets.

Identity verification

You can undergo full verification using the Get Verified tab.

Zero. After registration, the user receives a letter asking him to verify his e-mail. Only after this you can access your personal account, but deposits and withdrawals will remain unavailable.
First. Here you need to enter your full name, date of birth, country of residence and phone number. This will make it possible to replenish your account without restrictions, withdraw cryptocurrency, and participate in trading. Withdrawal limit: $2,500 per day and $20,000 per month.
Second. Available after entering your residential address. Allows you to deposit and withdraw fiat funds from the exchange. Limit on cryptocurrency input/output: $5,000 per day and $50,000 per month. Fiat deposit and withdrawal limit: $2,000 per day and $10,000 per month.
Third. Here you need to send a scan of your identity card and place of residence confirming their relevance. This level gives access to margin trading. Cryptocurrency limit: $5,000 per day and $200,000 per month. Fiat deposit and withdrawal limits: $2,500 and $20,000, respectively.
Fourth. Comes into force after sending copies of documents on registration of business activities and drawing up a special agreement when contacting the technical support of the crypto exchange. This level gives the client the opportunity to create a corporate account and increase the limits for input/output of fiat and cryptocurrencies (100 thousand dollars per day and 500 thousand dollars per month in equivalent).

Account verification

How to create an account on Kraken? Registration on the site itself is not difficult and will not take much time, unlike verification. There are various variations of it on Kraken. Depending on the type of account and the level of identity verification passed, certain trading restrictions apply. There are four types of verification in total on the exchange.

The choice of one of them determines the possibilities of how to replenish your account and how to trade.

Zero level

Trading is not possible. Email verification is required to receive it.

First level

You must enter basic personal data: full name, name, date of birth, contact number and country. This will allow you to trade any currencies, but deposits and withdrawals will only be available in cryptocurrency.

Second level

Allows you to withdraw, deposit and sell digital currency based on your location. To receive it you will have to confirm your registration address.

Starting from this level, it becomes possible to withdraw and top up your trading account with cash through a bank, but this function is also based on geolocation. However, as mentioned earlier, the question of how to withdraw money to a card and fund a trading account with its help is not worth it. The exchange does not support this feature.

Third level

Increases maximum deposit and withdrawal levels. You must provide proof of your residence at the address specified in your personal account and upload an identification document to the website. In some cases, the administration may ask you to send a photo with an unfolded passport in your hand.

Fourth level

This level will require registration in the KYC (Know Your Customer) system and an application form to open a trading account. It has two forms: for individuals and legal entities. This allows you to expand the capabilities provided by the previous verification level.

Being one of the best and well-reviewed cryptocurrency exchanges, it is intended for serious and professional traders. A wide range of trading instruments, the ability to deposit and withdraw funds in cryptocurrency and fiat money, and reasonable trading fees make Kraken one of the best cryptocurrency exchanges in the world.

Is it safe to store funds on the Kraken cryptocurrency exchange?

Yes, it's safe. Unlike many other platforms, no one has yet been able to hack the Kraken cryptocurrency exchange.

The system has 3 levels of protection at once:

Asset security. Most coins are stored in cold and semi-cold crypto wallets, and the fiat money of exchange clients and employees is kept in separate bank accounts.
System security. Exchange servers are under constant guard, all transmitted data is carefully encrypted, and Cloudfare technology is used to protect against spam and hacker attacks.
User safety. In your personal account settings, you can enable two-factor authentication to log into your account and confirm any actions on the exchange.

Is the Kraken cryptocurrency exchange really doing so well?

In general, yes. The exchange has never been hacked. Moreover, it was never mentioned in the context of scandals or investigations of fraudulent schemes.

Kraken has a good reputation and is considered one of the safest and most reliable cryptocurrency exchanges in the world.

But the site still had some difficulties.

In August 2017, users began to complain about the slow operation of the exchange, as well as long waiting times for feedback. The verification procedure was delayed for weeks, and we had to wait almost a month for a response from the technical support service.

Most of all, users were indignant about the slowdown in trade. After all, in order to make money on exchange rate changes, transactions need to be carried out as quickly as possible. If the system freezes and orders do not go through at the right time, the trader simply loses profit.

Representatives of the exchange announced that interruptions in the operation of the site were due to excessive loads on the server. To solve the problems that arose, they decided to temporarily deactivate 12 trading pairs with low liquidity and leave only 2 orders (limit and market).

Until the winter of 2018, the exchange operated in an updated (more precisely, reduced) mode, and on January 11, a message appeared on the website about a temporary suspension of the service. The developers announced that the exchange will be undergoing maintenance, so the site will not work for several hours.

On the night of January 11th to 12th, the site actually stopped working. All open orders were automatically closed and funds were returned to user accounts.

However, the planned restart did not occur within the promised hours, but only on January 15th. Nevertheless, users were satisfied with the changes in the service.

First of all, the exchange has returned to its previous pace of work. In addition, 10 trading pairs that were deactivated in the summer of 2017 were returned. Exchange representatives also announced plans to add the currently quite popular ETH/GBP and XBT/GBP pairs.

Today there are 45 trading pairs on the exchange, the daily turnover of which is more than $200 million.

It is not surprising that with such indicators, Kraken is in the top 5 cryptocurrency exchanges every day (in particular, according to the CoinMarketCap rating).

The bulk of Kraken users are concentrated in the exchange’s native United States. In addition, the site is very popular in Japan, Korea and Europe.

Mythology: Release the Kraken!

“One Viking set off on his ship to the British Isles, gathered a crew and took the velva on the road to prophesy the way. They set off, and as soon as they left the fjord with full sail, a white veil covered the eyes of the velva, and she began to say: “The moment we come to the lands of distant relatives, the ocean abyss will rise and a bloody island unprecedented before will rise, and will descend a military army to the island, and this island will drag us to the bottom, for this is the word of Njorda!” Naturally, the warriors of the unfavorable prophecy were frightened, but the path could not be canceled. They sailed for several days and nights, and as soon as the sun rose, after these days, the shore became visible on the horizon. At first the Vikings were overjoyed, all the islands are known and are on the maps, but then the sea foamed, rose and something rose from the water. At first, the sailors thought that it was an island, but since they knew about the danger, they did not set foot on it. And the island continued to rise and soon it was already a sea monster, huge, red, with long rods extending from a huge body. Coming out of the sea waters, the creature wrapped its tentacles around the ship and began to pull it to the bottom. Fearing for their lives, the warriors took out their swords and cut the creature's tentacles, and then its body into pieces. They managed to save them from death in the depths of the ocean..."

Hidden text

The legend of the Kraken began with rare attacks by the terrible giant creature on Viking ships. The surviving warriors recalled with horror their meeting with a huge monster, capturing ships with long tentacles.

In the 1250 Norwegian book “The King's Mirror”, written to teach the future Norwegian king Magnus VI (Magnus Lagabøter) in the saga of Odd the Arrow, you can find a description of the monster, and it is called hafgufa or lyngbakr.

Khafgufa is not a species of animal, but a certain creature that most likely exists in only one copy. At least this is what the unknown author of the “Royal Mirror” (Konungs skuggsjá, Latin “Speculum regale”) believed.

Description

There is a creature that is usually not talked about because of its size, which seems incredible to people. Very few can say anything clearly about it, because the giant fish rarely appears near the shores or where fishermen can be seen; and I suppose there are not many such fish in the sea. Most often in our language we call it hafgufa. Also, I cannot say definitively about its length in cubits, for when it appears before people, it looks more like land [an island] than a fish, and I have not heard from anyone that the hafgufa was caught or found dead; and it seems to me that there should not be more than two of these in the oceans, and I believe that each of them cannot reproduce itself, for I believe that they are always the same... They say it is the nature of this fish that when it comes time to satisfy her passionate hunger, then she stretches her throat for a great belch and after that vomits out a lot of food, so that all the kinds of fish that are nearby ["at arm's length"] swim to that place, then gather together, large and small ones, believing that there they should get food and good food; but this huge fish leaves its mouth open all this time, keeping its mouth wider than a huge pipe or even a whole fjord... But as soon as its mouth and stomach are filled, the hafgufa closes its mouth and catches all those fish that came in search of food.

We can safely assume that Khafgufa is not only a huge fish, but also the mythological mother of a creature known as Krake, Anker-trold, Architeuthis, Krabbe. But now the monster has a different, more laconic and well-known name - Kraken.

There are many coincidences - Kraken and Khafgufa both attracted hordes of fish. According to legend, the Kraken brings confusion into the minds of sailors and cartographers, and is often mistaken for an island and cannot be found a second time.

Some of the first manuscripts about the Kraken belong to the archbishop and historian from Uppsala (Sweden) Olaus Magnus. A book on the history of the northern peoples was published in 1555 and attracted attention with references to “mysterious fish” attacking ships:

Description

His appearance is terrible. The head is square, covered in thorns, sharp and long horns protrude from it in all directions, which is why the beast looks like an uprooted tree. The length of the head is twelve cubits, it is black, and huge eyes sit on it... The width of the eye is one cubit. The eyes are red and fiery, and therefore on a dark night it seems as if a fire is burning under water. The hair, thick and long, like goose feathers, hangs down from the head with a beard. And the kraken’s body is small - fifteen cubits. One such monster can easily sink many large ships with many strong sailors.”

In the myths of various peoples, one way or another there is information about such creatures. In the Bahamas he was dubbed "Luska".

The giant monster lives in blue holes - karst underwater vertical caves, so named because of the strong contrast in the color of the water between the sapphire color of the cave and the light blue of the surrounding shallow water. Luska is usually described as some kind of giant cephalopod or as part octopus and part shark.

The Ainu people from the Japanese island of Hokkaido called the monster Akkorokamui

. It looks like a giant octopus or squid. Known since the 19th century and, according to legend, it caught the eye of people not only on the island of Hokkaido, but also off the coast of Korea, China and even off the island of Taiwan. According to legend, three fishermen who were catching swordfish barely escaped when their boat was attacked by a huge sea monster with large bulging eyes.

It released a dark liquid into the water with a very strong and unpleasant odor. The legends about Akkorokamui say that it is bright red in color and resembles the reflection of the setting sun in the water. Its length reaches 120 meters. Due to its color and size, it is visible from afar.

The Polynesians called it Kanaloa

. He is the god of squids and the son of the original god Io. It was sometimes called Kaa-he'e-hauna-Vela (smelly squid). In later legends of Oceania, Kanaloa begins to be considered the god of evil, death and the underworld. All this happened under the influence of early European missionaries who, trying to find a foothold for their preaching in the mythology of the Hawaiians, “appointed” the gods Kane, Ku and Lono as an analogue of the Christian Trinity, and for Kanaloa they chose the role of Satan.

Where did the Kraken come from?

If we turn to the Scandinavian linguistic sources, we can find out that the word “krake” originally had the meaning “twisted, crooked”, and was also used to refer to sick animals. "Kraken" is a definite form of the same word. In Shetland the word krekin is a taboo name for whales, while in German the word krake means "octopus". The English words “crook” (hook) and “crank” (turn, bend) have the same root. One can associate Kraken with the Proto-Slavic word (leg). It goes back to the Bulgarian krak (leg), Macedonian krak (branch, shoot, branch and leg), Slovenian krak (long leg), kraka (pig leg, ham), Serbian krak (oblong part of an object, branch, leg (long)) , Polish krok (step), Russian dialect korok (thigh). From the same root are derived the Russian words ham (meat from the leg of an animal) and cuttlefish (the spelling of this word with an “a” is a consequence of akania). True, no words related to the Proto-Slavic kork were found in the Germanic languages.

A summary of marine folklore about the kraken was also compiled by the Danish naturalist Eric Pontoppidan, Bishop of Bergen (1698-1774). He also estimated the unknown animal to be the size of “a floating island” and gave it the name Soe-trold and Anker Trold (sea troll and anchor troll). According to Pontoppidan's descriptions, the kraken is able to grab with its tentacles and drag even a large warship to the bottom. Even more dangerous for ships is the whirlpool that occurs when the kraken quickly sinks to the seabed.

The Bishop of Bergen wrote that the kraken is capable of releasing strong-smelling substances on the sea surface. Their smell attracts many sea fish, which the kraken catches with its tentacles to turn them into bait for other fish. This was successfully used by Norwegian fishermen, who even came up with the saying “fishing on the kraken.”

Description of the Bishop

“When the monster surfaces, its shining horns rise above the sea. They stretch out in length, swell, filling with blood. They rise above the water, like the masts of a medium-sized ship. These are apparently the hands of an animal, and they say that if he grabs even the largest ship with them, he can drag him to the bottom. Our fishermen unanimously claim that sometimes, having sailed several miles from the coast and reaching a certain place with a depth of 80 or 100 fathoms, they find there a depth of only 20-30 fathoms, or even less. Here there are clouds of different fish, a lot of cod and sea pike, so they conclude that a kraken lies at the bottom. Sometimes two or three dozen boats catch fish, and the fishermen have only one concern - to monitor the depth: does it remain the same or decrease. If the sea becomes shallow, it means the kraken is rising to the surface: you can’t stay here any longer. Fishermen give up fishing, take up their oars and swim away quickly.”

Eric Pontoppidan drew on his notes, which he kept for several years, interviewing residents of coastal areas. He also resorted to the help of pastors of the dioceses subordinate to him. Thus, through the mediation of the pastor of the city of Bodo, he gained access to hundred-year-old information concerning the once discovered corpse of a kraken. This was a rather rare case of observing the body of a legendary animal, which was impossible to observe on the open sea due to its enormous size.

About the case of finding the Kraken

In 1680, a small kraken (most likely young and careless) ventured into the waters of Ulwangen Bay, which were replete with underwater rocks and coastal rocks. Usually these animals try to stay far from the shore in the open sea, but there are cases when krakens, swimming to the shore, wrap their tentacles around trees and uproot them. Having become entangled with their burden in a crevice or fissure of a rock, they are unable to escape from their captivity and die. Their skeleton, filling most of the narrow fiord and spreading the corresponding smell around, makes passage through it inaccessible. Probably, a young dead kraken was discovered by fishermen in a similar way.”

. Pontoppidan and his informants do not make the Kraken a terrible monster, despite the fact that this powerful animal is capable of sinking a ship of the largest capacity:

“Krakens have never had a reputation as dangerous creatures, although some of them may have taken the life of someone (who, however, will no longer be able to witness this). I have only heard of one case of aggressive behavior, which occurred a few years ago near Friedrichstadt. They say that two fishermen, by chance and to their great surprise, found themselves in a zone of water filled with thick silt that resembled a swamp. They immediately tried to get out of the place, but they were unable to turn around quickly enough to avoid being hit by one of the kraken's tentacles, which crushed the bow of their boat. With great difficulty they escaped from the wreckage, although the weather was calm..."

Biologist Pierre Denis de Montfort (1766–1820) was also interested in the Kraken. He conducted a systematic survey among American whalers based at Dunkirk. This survey was crowned with success: two captains of the new fleet in Dunkirk told him about a piece of a huge tentacle, 10.65 meters long, found in the mouth of a sperm whale. The suction cups on it were the size of a hat and arranged in two rows, like an octopus, and the total length of the untruncated tentacle should have been 18 meters. Denis-Montfort in his report wrote about this animal as an octopus and was not very sincere, since the American captain believed that the tentacle belonged to a squid.

The second captain told Denis-Montfort an even more amazing story - about how, after killing a whale, a long, fleshy body, reddish on one side and steel-colored on the other, was left floating on the surface of the water, which was first mistaken for a sea snake and which frightened the sailors.

But one sailor, bolder, noticed that the snake had no head and did not move. The captain ordered it to be pulled onto the deck, and then everyone saw that it was the tentacle of a huge octopus with a row of suckers, which at the thick end were the size of a plate, and the opposite end was very thin and sharp. Several pieces were cut off from the tentacle, but since the meat turned out to be tough, almost all of it was thrown back into the sea, after carefully measuring it. At the base, the diameter of the tentacle was 75 centimeters, its circumference was 2.25 meters, and its total length was 13.7 meters.

Encouraged by the testimony of American whalers from Dunkirk, he writes in his “Natural History of Mollusks,” published in 1802, about cephalopods as “the most enormous animals on the globe.” But among them he identifies only two species of phenomenal size: the colossal octopus and the kraken octopus.

The book was a huge success, but it was overshadowed by one fact:

Off the coast of the West Indies, the British captured six French ships, which they sent to the nearest harbor under an escort of four of their cruisers. But neither the prisoners nor the convoy reached the harbor. Denis de Montfort put forward the theory that all ten ships were sunk by giant squids. The British Admiralty was so indignant that it even revealed to the general public some of the secret circumstances surrounding the sinking of the ships. The case ended in a big scandal; de Montfort had to leave his scientific career forever.

On November 30, 1861, sailors from the French corvette Alekton, sailing near the Canary Islands, saw a giant octopus on the surface of the water. Its red body was about six meters long and its eyes were the size of cannonballs. Frightened by the myths about the kraken, the sailors fired at the animal with cannons, and then tried to lift its body on board. They did not succeed (the squid weighed, according to estimates, about two tons), but they managed to get a fragment of its body weighing about twenty kilograms, and the ship's artist made a drawing of the animal. This evidence created a sensation in Europe. The French Academy of Sciences has recognized the existence of the giant squid.

In 1873, the kraken was caught again. This happened off the coast of Newfoundland. The fishermen were about to pull a net out of the sea and suddenly discovered that something very heavy had fallen into it. The prisoner furiously tore from side to side, but people still managed to pull him to the surface. That's when they saw the giant squid. One of the fishermen, undeterred, approached the squid from behind and killed it by plunging a long knife into its head. The animal was taken to the Natural History Museum in London. The squid was ten meters long.

The 1870s turned out to be fatal for giant squids. More than a hundred times they were found dead on the surface of the ocean in different areas of the North Atlantic. Zoologist I. Akimushkin suggests that then there was some kind of epidemic from which they died. As a result, at that time, fishermen sometimes used pieces of the body of giant squid to bait gear when fishing for cod. A lot of squids fell into the hands of scientists, which made it possible to draw up a scientific description of them.

So, the giant squid has rightfully settled on the pages of zoology textbooks. What do scientists say about him? They allocate it to a special genus - Architeutis (“arch squid”). There is no consensus on the number of species in this genus. At first, almost every specimen caught was described as a separate species. As a result, more than ten species of giant squid were counted.

Zoologist Kir Nesis wrote that we can confidently speak of three species (or subspecies): North Atlantic, North Pacific and southern. There is also a dwarf giant squid, only eighteen centimeters long, but by all appearances belonging to the genus of giants.

Video of a captured colossal octopus

The most giant squid was caught in 2007, fishermen fishing in Antarctic waters lifted aboard a nine-meter squid, whose weight was 495 kg.

Below, under the thunder of the upper depths, There, far away, under the abysses of the sea, From ancient times, in a dreamless, stormless sleep, the Kraken sleeps: Barely visible lights Slide around its shadowy sides; Above him grow huge sponges of a thousand-year-old menacing height; And far all around, in the dim flicker, From the amazing grottoes, from the darkness of the secret cells scattered everywhere, Polyp monsters, without number, With giant hands evoke the Green color of the slumbering waters. There he rested for centuries, and He will lie there, feeding in his sleep on the Huge worms of the ocean, Until the last fire of the abyss of the sea heats up with his breath, and then, So that man and angels will one day see him, he will float up with a loud cry and die on the surface.

Such a work was composed by the English poet Alfred Tennyson in 1830 after being inspired by the scientific work of Pierre-Denis de Montfort.

The Russian translation lacks descriptions of the underwater world and biblical reminiscences that are important for understanding the verse. In Tennyson, the kraken “moves its huge arms in its sleep,” and, tossing and turning, “crushes gigantic sea serpents” (in Old English, the word “worm” could mean both “worm” and “serpent, dragon”; in the context of the poem, the second meaning is more suitable) .

He lives among “many wonderful grottoes and secret caves”, “countless huge polyps”. In the last lines, the monster not only “emerges burnt”, but “appears before the eyes of people and angels.”

The image of the kraken in Tennyson's poem echoes the biblical sea monster Leviathan, which God will destroy during the Last Judgment. Lovecraft continues this tradition, but unlike Tennyson's kraken, his Cthulhu rises from the abyss to seize power over the world and destroy European civilization. It is difficult to determine which myths of the people the writer was guided by; most likely, he collected all the known legends for the prototype of Cthulhu.

Victor Hugo in his work “Toilers of the Sea” described the kraken as follows:

Description

Ugliness defends itself in the face of the need to destroy itself... A lump of mucus with a will - what could be more terrible!.. An air pump attacks you. You are dealing with a void armed with tentacles. No piercing claws, no piercing fangs, just the indescribable sensation of cut skin. The bite is scary, but not as bad as the sucking. The claw is nothing compared to the suction cup. The beast's claw pierces your body; the suckers of the reptile pull you into themselves... the skin bursts under the vile suckers; blood splashes and mixes with the disgusting lymph of the mollusk. This creature is approaching you with many vile mouths; hydra merges with man; man merges with hydra. You are one with her. You are a prisoner of this nightmare come true. The tiger can eat you; octopus - scary to think about! — sucks you out. He pulls you towards him, absorbs you, and you... helpless, feel how you are slowly pouring into the terrible bag that this monster is. It is terrible to be eaten alive, but there is something even more indescribable - to be drunk alive...

The heroes of Jules Verne's novel “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea” also encounter giant cephalopods. In the waters of the Caribbean Sea, the Nautilus encounters a group of eight-meter squids, the body of one of them becomes entangled in the boat's propeller; To clean the propeller, the team goes outside in diving suits and fights the squids with axes and harpoons.

The Kraken appears in Melville's famous 1851 novel Moby Dick. The heroes, seeing a huge squid in the ocean, at first mistake it for a white sperm whale - the goal of their search.

In 1897, H.G. Wells described an encounter with giant squids in his story “The Sea Pirates.”

The idea of the future, when terrible monsters will rise from the depths, and God will not want to save humanity, is characteristic of literature and art at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Later, the novels of J. Wyndham “The Kraken Awakens”, Francis Karsak’s “Robinsons of Space”, the unfinished story of Arkady Strugatsky “Days of the Kraken” and other works appeared, up to the collective “Ketopolis” and “The Kraken” by China Miéville, in which the infernal monstrosity of the kraken is revealed with a variety of sides.

The novel “From the Depths” by American science fiction writer Murray Leinster is dedicated to the Kraken. In 1991, Peter Benchley, author of the famous book Jaws, wrote a novel, The Beast, about a giant squid.

The cinema could not do without the Kraken; it’s worth remembering “Cthulhu” and “Pirates of the Caribbean”. And of course “Clash of the Titans”, where the famous phrase “Release the Kraken” came from!

Release!

Of course, such a mystical character simply had to appear in the games. We can meet him in Ultima online and D&D World Of Warcraft, Guild Wars, Hex, Age of Mythology, Evolve.

It is very easy to beat the ancient sea dweller, because in most games he (or his relatives) occupies the position of the main boss (Archeage, Darkest Dungeon, Runescape, Dungeon Defenders, Don't Starve, Clash of the Titans, Sea of Thieves, God of War, Fable The Lost Chapters,Ragnarok, Legendary)

It is noteworthy that this character still has the abilities assigned to him by myths and literary figures, and has not yet fully learned to fly and cast fireballs. Although, a certain prototype called Leviathan or Reaper could have come across us in the Mass Effect series.

I most likely did not mention all the games, which is not surprising. The image of the Kraken has become quite mainstream and recognizable. And history has provided enough sources of inspiration and descriptions of the “monster from the depths.” Brave pirates can also try the rum of the same name.

Finally, I’ll leave a positive message, and let out your inner Kraken as little as possible!

mythology, kraken, cryptozoology

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Advantages and disadvantages of the exchange

Advantages:

The crypto exchange works with a large number of the most popular pairs and currencies with high liquidity. At the same time, management declares its intention to further develop this area.
Confidence in new coins. Every new coin that appears on the platform undergoes thorough verification and comprehensive analysis. Kraken clients can be confident in the prospects of all cryptocurrencies presented here.
Margin trading. An exchange client, having reached a certain level, can always use leverage, thereby increasing his profit. However, this same option can significantly increase possible losses. In any case, such an option is not available on all cryptocurrency exchanges.
High reliability and safety. Kraken is one of the oldest crypto exchanges that has successfully survived several hacker attacks. The exchange has a B+ reliability rating.
A proprietary application for iOS that allows you to make transactions almost on the go.
Low commissions. Commission fees on the platform are among the most reasonable among all crypto exchanges. In addition, they vary markedly, depending on the category of the trader and his trading volumes.

Flaws:

Lack of Russian version. The exchange is aimed at users from the USA, Europe, Canada and Japan. The Russian-speaking audience is not yet a priority, although its size is only increasing every day.
No withdrawal in rubles. Kraken does not support deposits/withdrawals in rubles. There is also no possibility to top up your account through popular payment systems in the Russian Federation.
Difficult and lengthy verification. Without entering personal data, the user has only very limited capabilities (viewing charts and transaction history).
Commission for depositing funds. Many exchanges have long since begun to phase out commission fees for replenishing accounts. Kraken is not one of them yet.

Kraken crypto exchange scandals:

Kraken relatively rarely becomes involved in scandals and massive user complaints. The most notable of them occurred in August 2017, when the exchange system began to noticeably freeze, orders did not arrive at the right time, and making money on exchange rate changes became practically impossible. This was due to high loads on the servers.
Soon after this, the exchange began operating in a reduced mode (12 pairs with low liquidity were deactivated, leaving only two orders). To reduce the load on the servers, this mode of operation continued until the winter of 2018.
On January 11-15, 2020, the exchange suddenly stopped working, closing for maintenance. All orders were automatically closed, all funds were returned to client accounts.
After this, having started working in the updated mode, Kraken regained its high speed of work, the previously deactivated pairs were returned.