Transak Reseña

Is Transak worth using? The short answer

Transak is a legitimate, registered crypto on-ramp, and most people never pick it on purpose: it sits behind the Buy or Deposit button inside wallets such as MetaMask and Trust Wallet, and behind the Sell option in Ledger Wallet. It is safe in the sense that matters most: it sends crypto straight to your own wallet, and we found no incident in which customers lost funds.

Its record has two dents. In 2024 a breach at a KYC vendor gave an attacker access to the ID documents and selfies of up to 92,554 users, by Transak's count, which led to a US class-action settlement that went to a final approval hearing in December 2025. And in 2026, without a MiCA authorisation, it stopped listing any EU country.

This Transak review checks its registrations on the regulators' own lists and explains the breach and the settlement. It also prices a real purchase. On 17 October 2026, $500 by card on Transak's own checkout cost about 6.8% all-in, counting the fee and the markup in the exchange rate.

• Who runs it: Transak, co-founded in 2019 by Sami Start (CEO) and Yeshu Agarwal, headquartered in Miami.
• Regulation: registered with FinCEN in the US, with money transmitter licences listed in 19 states and DC, registered with the FCA in the UK for anti-money-laundering purposes, and registered in Canada and Australia. No New York licence and no EU authorisation.
• Cost: card fee of 3.99% + $1 in the US, plus an exchange-rate markup that Transak discloses as 0% to 2.5%; its own quotes showed 2.7% when we checked. Wallet apps can add their own fee.
• Biggest catch: completed orders are final. Transak says it cannot refund them, even after a scam.

What is Transak, and who runs it?

Transak is a fiat-to-crypto on-ramp and off-ramp. You pay by card, Apple Pay, Google Pay or a bank transfer where available, and Transak sends crypto to a wallet address you control; it can also buy crypto back and pay you out. You can use it directly on global.transak.com, its own checkout (its help center points buyers there), but it is built to sit inside other apps, which is where many users meet it, and Transak says its widget runs in more than 600 apps and serves more than 10 million users, both of them company claims.

Transak dates itself to 2019 and its on-ramp went live in February 2020; its co-founders are Sami Start, who is chief executive, and Yeshu Agarwal, and it describes itself as headquartered in Miami with offices in London, Bengaluru, Dubai and Hong Kong. CE Innovation Capital led its $20 million Series A in May 2023. In August 2025 Tether and IDG Capital led a $16 million strategic round, and Gobi Partners put in an undisclosed sum in April 2026.

Is Transak safe?

For your money, mostly yes. Transak is non-custodial. It holds no customer balances, and crypto goes straight to the address you give; we found no incident in which customers lost funds. For your data, the record is weaker, because the 2024 breach exposed identity documents. Transak is also not a bank.

Which licences does Transak hold?

We checked each entry below on the regulator's own register on 17 October 2026, except the US state licences: the national NMLS lookup blocks automated access, so that row comes from Transak's compliance page.

Two details are worth knowing. The UK registration only covers anti-money-laundering rules, so the FCA register notes that you cannot complain about Transak to the Financial Ombudsman Service, and Transak will need full FCA authorisation under the UK's new crypto regime, which the FCA expects to start on 25 October 2027. An earlier version of this page repeated a "30th firm" line; it comes from Transak's own 2021 blog post about its FCA registration, cannot be checked on the register and is not a global ranking.

What happened in the Transak data breach?

In September 2024 an attacker used a Transak employee's compromised login to get into the dashboard of a third-party identity-verification vendor. Transak disclosed the breach on 21 October 2024, about a month after its US notice says it first received a claim about the data, and said the attacker accessed up to 92,554 users' records, about 1.14% of its user base.

The exposed data was names, dates of birth, identity documents such as passports and driving licences, and selfie photos and videos; the court-authorised notice to US class members adds that the files may have contained addresses. Unlike a password, an ID scan or a selfie cannot be reset. Transak said the attacker did not reach email addresses, phone numbers, wallet addresses, card or bank details, Social Security numbers or passwords. No funds were touched.

Transak described the cause as a "sophisticated phishing attack" on the employee's laptop; CoinDesk, quoting the CEO, reported that non-work use of the company laptop ran a malicious script. Transak sent breach letters to US customers on 28 February 2025 and offered credit monitoring, according to its filing with the Maine attorney general. That filing counts 23,113 affected people in the US. Both of Transak's breach posts have since come down; we link the archived copies in the sources.

What was the Transak USA data breach settlement?

The breach led to a class action, Pearson v. Transak USA, LLC, which moved from federal court in Florida to the Broward County Circuit Court in Florida (case CACE-25-010305). The settlement agreement covers the 23,113 people in the US whose data was involved. Each class member could claim either up to $1,500 for documented losses or a flat $50 with no proof. Transak agreed to pay at most $601,000 toward those cash payments, so $601,000 is a cap, not a fund paid out in full.

If every class member had claimed the $50, the total would have been $1,155,650, so the cap cuts payments once about half the class claims. Transak denies wrongdoing.

Claims closed on 1 December 2025. The court scheduled the final approval hearing for 15 December 2025. We could not confirm the court's final decision: the Broward clerk's docket sits behind a CAPTCHA and the settlement website no longer loads. If you were a class member and filed a claim, the settlement administrator, Simpluris, is the party to contact.

How does Transak protect your data?

Transak says it holds ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification and a SOC 2 Type II report, both announced in 2024, on its trust center; the auditors are not named. Its bug bounty is private and run by email with no published payout, and after the breach Transak says it now requires hardware-based multi-factor authentication for vendor platforms and tighter controls on staff devices. It keeps personal data for six years after you close an account, according to its safety page, to meet anti-money-laundering rules.

Is Transak legit?

Yes. Transak is a real, registered company, not a scam. Wallets such as MetaMask and Ledger chose it as a provider. Being legit does not make every page that says "Transak" genuine, and it does not stop scammers from asking you to buy crypto through it and send it to them.

User ratings are mixed. When we checked on 17 October 2026, Trustpilot showed 4.1 out of 5 from about 57,000 reviews, with 12% of them one-star, and flagged the profile as possibly "associated with high-risk investments"; Transak's own site still advertises 4.3. The Better Business Bureau rates Transak USA LLC D+, not accredited, with 15 complaints in three years. Transak has no app in the Apple App Store or Google Play, so any "Transak" app there is not Transak.

Is global.transak.com legit?

Yes. global.transak.com is Transak's own checkout. Transak's safety page lists it alongside transak.com, docs.transak.com and support.transak.com as its official domains. Transak's trust notice names transak.info and transak.it as impostor sites, and its safety page tells users to treat close variants on other extensions as untrusted. You can check whether an email address, phone number or social account belongs to Transak staff on its Official Verify page.

Does Transak still work in Europe?

No, not as of October 2026. Transak's public country list names 26 countries and none of them is in the EU, and some of its own buy pages now read "Not available in Italy" and "Transak currently doesn't support purchases in Netherlands".

Transak is not on ESMA's register of MiCA-authorised firms, and the EU's transitional period for unauthorised crypto firms ended on 1 July 2026; in a statement of 23 June 2026, ESMA told such firms to stop onboarding new EU clients immediately once it ended.

We found no announcement from Transak, and the timing is odd: its country list still allowed 28 EEA countries, Italy among them, on 18 August 2026, seven weeks after the deadline, and dropped them by early October (ESMA expected an orderly wind-down, so a country on the list does not prove new EU sign-ups). Over the same months its terms of service lost the clause that served EEA users through its Polish company (July 2026 version), its coverage page, which said "64+" countries in April, settled on "26+", and its public payment settings dropped SEPA bank transfers for euros.

Transak's public country list still includes the UK, Switzerland and a few other European countries outside the EU. UK buyers go through the FCA's checks for first-time investors (Transak's UK flow), including an appropriateness quiz and a 24-hour cooling-off period before the first purchase. In the EU, look elsewhere. Our MoonPay review covers one option that holds a MiCA authorisation.

What fees does Transak charge?

Transak's price has two layers. It charges a Transak fee that depends on how you pay, and it builds a markup into the exchange rate on top of a market reference price. Network fees can apply, and the app you buy through can add its own fee. Transak publishes the rates in a US pricing page and a euro price and fee disclosure.

The markup matters more than it looks. We priced a purchase on global.transak.com on 17 October 2026. A $500 card purchase showed a Transak fee of $20.95, which matches 3.99% + $1, and a rate of $2,494 per ETH while CoinGecko and Coinbase showed about $2,426, a markup of about 2.8% by our arithmetic (Transak's own data puts it at 2.7% fewer coins per dollar, the same gap measured the other way). All in, the $500 bought about $466 of crypto at market prices, a cost of about 6.8%.

Transak's own quote data put the markup at 2.7% for every coin and payment method we tried, stablecoins included, above the 0% to 2.5% range in its disclosure, which says the markup depends on how volatile a coin is. We checked twice on 17 October 2026, and quotes for US and UK customers were identical.

How can you pay less on Transak?

• Compare the amount of crypto you receive, not the fee line: the markup is inside the rate.
• Check the same purchase on global.transak.com and in your wallet, since wallet apps can add their own fee.
• For larger purchases in the US, a wire transfer carries a much lower Transak fee (0.75% + $9, for $1,000 to $10,000 per order), but the same 2.7% markup applies: a $5,000 wire quote came to about 3.6% all-in, against about 6.8% on our $500 card quote.
• Compare providers: our on-ramp cost tool and on-ramp hub list the alternatives.

Does Transak require KYC?

Yes. Transak runs three verification levels (KYC levels). Lite asks only for your email, name, phone, date of birth and address, and takes about 30 seconds. It covers small purchases, but Transak offers it in just 10 countries, including the UK, Canada and Australia. The US is not one of them. Standard adds a photo ID, a proof of address from the last three months and a liveness selfie, and US customers are asked for their Social Security number; Transak says it usually takes about 10 minutes and up to four hours. Enhanced adds proof of income and can take up to 48 hours.

You verify once and the same Transak profile works across partner apps. Limits depend on the level and the payment method: Transak's public settings showed card purchases from $5 up to $6,000 per transaction in the US on 17 October 2026, and its help center gives Standard KYC "up to $20,000". Your own limits appear under "My Limits" in your Transak account.

Is it safe to give Transak your SSN?

It is a normal request for a US money transmitter, and Transak's safety page says US verification "includes a Social Security number for most customers". Transak says the 2024 breach did not expose Social Security numbers. The risk to watch is giving your SSN or ID to a site or person pretending to be Transak, so only enter it inside the verification flow on a domain you have checked.

Can you get your money back from Transak?

Usually only if the order never completed. Transak's security FAQ is direct: "Cryptocurrency transactions are irreversible, so we can't refund any transaction once they're completed," and it says it cannot cancel or refund them "even in cases involving scams".

• Order refused or failed: Transak refunds the money to the account you paid from. Its help center says refunds are typically processed within 24 hours, though banks can take five to seven working days, and that it will issue a refund within 10 days of a request that contains enough information to identify you.
• Cancelling: possible only before your bank or card provider has sent the payment, under the terms.
• Wrong address or network: Transak may not be able to retrieve the crypto and says it is not liable.
• Chargebacks: the US terms allow one only if Transak breached the agreement or someone used your card without permission. Transak may also charge you for the cost of investigating.
• Sent to a scammer: report it to the police, and share the scammer's wallet address with Transak support; Transak's scam guide says it can then blacklist that wallet.

How do you withdraw money from Transak?

You sell crypto back through Transak, either on global.transak.com or in a partner app such as Ledger, whose help center describes selling with Transak. You start a sell order, send the crypto to the address Transak shows, and the money goes to your card or bank account. In October 2026 Transak's public settings listed payouts to US debit cards, UK bank accounts and cards, euro cards and Australian cards. Card payouts arrive within 30 minutes on cards that support fast payouts and otherwise within 48 hours, according to Transak's off-ramp details page. Selling to a US debit card costs 0.99% under Transak's US pricing page. A fiat payout, once sent, is final.

Which scams involve Transak, and how do you avoid them?

Transak usually appears in scam stories as the payment step. A scammer tells the victim to buy USDT inside their wallet and paste an address the scammer controls, and because the purchase is final, the money is gone. The scale is large: the FBI's 2025 Internet Crime Report counted $11.366 billion in losses from 181,565 complaints with a cryptocurrency link.

• Investment and romance scams: a contact met online walks you through buying crypto and sending it to a trading site that shows fake profits. Transak's scam guide says to be suspicious of any request for money from someone you have never met in person.
• Lookalike sites and fake checkouts: start from inside the app you already use or from a bookmark of transak.com, never from a link someone sent you.
• Fake support agents on Telegram, X or by phone who ask for a code, your seed phrase or a payment to release your funds. Transak says no employee will ever ask for your seed phrase, private key, password or a payment to release funds.
• Recovery scams: after a loss, someone offers to get your crypto back for a fee. Transak's trust notice warns that imitation sites contact victims this way.

The FTC's consumer advice sums up most of these: "Only scammers demand payment in cryptocurrency."

Does Transak have a customer service phone number?

No. Transak offers live chat and tickets at support.transak.com and email at support@transak.com, and we found no customer-support phone line on any Transak page. Pages online that advertise an "official Transak support number" are not Transak. Transak's terms do say it may call you about account security or suspected fraud, so verify any caller on Official Verify and hang up on anyone who asks for a code, a key or a payment.

Which wallets use Transak?

You are most likely to meet Transak inside a wallet. In MetaMask, Transak powers the Deposit flow for stablecoins in the US (MetaMask's own mUSD page says "Available in the US via Transak"), and it is one of 16 US providers behind the Buy button; MetaMask's help center says it takes 1% on purchases through its Buy feature, while its mUSD page says MetaMask and Transak fees are currently waived for US bank deposits into mUSD. In Trust Wallet you can choose Transak as the provider, alongside MoonPay, Ramp and others. Ledger uses Transak for selling. Exodus does not list Transak among its providers.

What are the best Transak alternatives?

If your wallet offers several providers, compare the crypto amount each one quotes for the same spend before you pay.

• MoonPay is the closest like-for-like choice: also wallet-embedded, MiCA-authorised in the EU, licensed in New York, and it publishes a fee ceiling of up to 4.5% by card.
• Ramp Network and Banxa are other on-ramps you may see in the same Buy menus.
• An exchange account such as Coinbase or Kraken suits regular or larger buyers who would rather fund by bank transfer and then withdraw to their own wallet.

Our scoring method explains how we rank on-ramps.

Should you use Transak?

Our Transak review comes down to geography. Use Transak if it is the provider your wallet offers in the US, UK, Canada or Australia and you want a small purchase delivered straight to your own address. Your crypto never sits with Transak. In the US it is registered with FinCEN and holds money transmitter licences in 19 states and DC, by its own list. Expect to pay a few percent more than the fee line suggests, because the markup hides in the rate.

Look elsewhere if you are in the EU, New York, Alaska, Louisiana, Minnesota or North Dakota, where Transak does not currently serve customers, or if the 2024 breach makes you unwilling to upload ID to it again. And if anyone tells you to buy crypto through Transak and send it to an address they gave you, stop: Transak says it cannot get that money back.

Sources

All sources accessed 17 October 2026.

1. Transak, compliance and licences: https://transak.com/compliance
2. FinCEN, MSB registration, Transak USA LLC: https://msb.fincen.gov/msb.registration.letter.php?ID=29854657
3. FinCEN, MSB registration, Transak Limited: https://msb.fincen.gov/msb.registration.letter.php?ID=29852350
4. NYDFS, regulated virtual currency businesses: https://www.dfs.ny.gov/apps_and_licensing/virtual_currency_businesses
5. FCA Financial Services Register, Transak Limited, FRN 928910: https://register.fca.org.uk/s/firm?id=0014G00002WMs6zQAD
6. FCA, new regime for cryptoasset regulation: https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/new-regime-cryptoasset-regulation
7. FINTRAC, MSB registry: https://fintrac-canafe.canada.ca/msb-esm/reg-eng.csv
8. AUSTRAC, virtual asset service provider register: https://online.apps.austrac.gov.au/vaspr
9. ESMA, interim MiCA register of crypto-asset service providers: https://www.esma.europa.eu/sites/default/files/2024-12/CASPS.csv
10. ESMA, public statement on the end of the MiCA transitional period (2026-06-23): https://www.esma.europa.eu/sites/default/files/2026-06/ESMA75-113276571-1710_Public_Statement_MiCA_transitional_period_ends.pdf
11. Transak, terms of service (Rest of World, 2026-09-21): https://transak.com/terms-of-service
12. Transak, terms of service, archived 2026-07-21 (EEA clause): https://web.archive.org/web/20260721155225/https://transak.com/terms-of-service
13. Transak, terms of service (US, 2026-04-30): https://transak.com/terms-of-service-us
14. Transak, global coverage: https://transak.com/global-coverage
15. Transak, security incident disclosure (2024-10-21), archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20260307203627/https://transak.com/blog/transak-security-incident-oct-2024
16. Transak, security incident update, archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20260510195051/https://transak.com/blog/transak-security-incident-update-oct-2024
17. CoinDesk, Transak targeted in data breach (2024-10-21): https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2024/10/21/crypto-on-ramp-service-transak-targeted-in-data-breach
18. Maine Attorney General, Transak USA breach notice, archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20260308044338/https://www.maine.gov/agviewer/content/ag/985235c7-cb95-4be2-8792-a1252b4f8318/42621856-5d52-447d-869b-3bb19723ce2c.html
19. Pearson v. Transak USA, LLC, settlement agreement (copy hosted by ClassAction.org): https://www.classaction.org/media/pearson-v-transak-usa-settlement.pdf
20. Pearson v. Transak USA, LLC, court-authorised notice: https://www.classaction.org/media/pearson-v-transak-usa-notice.pdf
21. Transak USA settlement website, important dates, archived 2025-12-16: https://web.archive.org/web/20251216231205/https://www.transakusasettlement.com/dates/
22. Pearson v. Transak USA, LLC, federal complaint (S.D. Fla. 1:25-cv-21146): https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.685565/gov.uscourts.flsd.685565.1.0.pdf
23. Transak, Series A announcement (2023-05-30), archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20260307215754/https://transak.com/blog/transak-series-a
24. Transak, strategic fundraise (2025-08-12): https://transak.com/blog/strategic-fundraise
25. Transak, Gobi Partners investment (2026-04-08): https://transak.com/blog/gobi-partners-invests-in-transak-to-expand-compliant-stablecoins-and-digital-assets-payments-infrastructure-across-asia
26. Transak, RLUSD on the XRP Ledger (2026-10-15): https://transak.com/blog/rlusd-is-now-live-on-the-xrp-ledger
27. Transak, trust center: https://security.transak.com/
28. Transak, is Transak safe (2026-07-29): https://transak.com/blog/is-transak-safe
29. Transak, trust notice on lookalike domains: https://transak.com/blog/trust-notice
30. Transak, Official Verify: https://transak.com/official-verify
31. Transak, US pricing and fees: https://transak.com/fees-pricing-calculation
32. Transak Help Center, how Transak calculates prices and fees (2026-09-02): https://support.transak.com/en/articles/7845942-how-does-transak-calculate-prices-and-fees
33. Transak docs, KYC levels: https://docs.transak.com/guides/transak-different-kyc-levels
34. Transak Help Center, KYC help center (2026-08-03): https://support.transak.com/en/articles/12265077-transak-kyc-help-center
35. Transak Help Center, security and safety FAQs: https://support.transak.com/en/articles/12265193-security-and-safety-frequently-asked-questions
36. Transak Help Center, refund queries (2026-06-25): https://support.transak.com/en/articles/8420503-i-have-a-refund-query
37. Transak Help Center, buying crypto at Transak: https://support.transak.com/en/articles/7846055-buying-crypto-at-transak
38. Transak, public fiat currencies API: https://api.transak.com/fiat/public/v1/currencies/fiat-currencies
39. Transak, public countries API: https://api.transak.com/api/v2/countries
40. Transak, protect yourself from crypto scams: https://transak.com/blog/protect-yourself-from-crypto-scams
41. Transak, MetaMask partnership announcement (2025-09-15): https://transak.com/blog/transak-and-metamask-join-forces-to-offer-11-stablecoin-onramping-and-named-ibans
42. MetaMask, introducing MetaMask USD: https://metamask.io/news/introducing-metamask-usd-your-dollar-your-wallet
43. MetaMask Support, how to buy crypto in MetaMask: https://support.metamask.io/manage-crypto/move-crypto/buy/how-to-buy-crypto-in-metamask/
44. Ledger Support, sell crypto with Transak through Ledger Wallet: https://support.ledger.com/article/sell-crypto-with-transak-through-ledger-live
45. Trust Wallet Support, buying with Transak in Trust Wallet (2026-06-24): https://support.trustwallet.com/en/articles/717188-transak-your-gateway-to-seamless-crypto-transactions
46. Transak docs, UK FCA submission flow: https://docs.transak.com/guides/how-to-submit-fca
47. CourtListener, Pearson v. Transak USA LLC federal docket (S.D. Fla.): https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69726216/pearson-v-transak-usa-llc/
48. Transak, buy page for the Netherlands (not supported): https://transak.com/buy/iota/netherlands
49. CoinGecko, simple price API (reference price): https://api.coingecko.com/api/v3/simple/price
50. Coinbase, ETH-USD spot price API (reference price): https://api.coinbase.com/v2/prices/ETH-USD/spot
51. Trustpilot, transak.com: https://www.trustpilot.com/review/transak.com
52. Better Business Bureau, Transak USA LLC: https://www.bbb.org/us/fl/miami/profile/cryptocurrency-exchange/transak-usa-llc-0633-92048210
53. FBI IC3, 2025 Internet Crime Report: https://www.ic3.gov/AnnualReport/Reports/2025_IC3Report.pdf
54. FTC, what to know about cryptocurrency and scams: https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/what-know-about-cryptocurrency-and-scams
55. Transak, global.transak.com checkout (live quotes, 2026-10-17): https://global.transak.com/
56. Transak, public countries API, archived 2026-08-18 (28 EEA countries allowed): https://web.archive.org/web/20260818193321/https://api.transak.com/api/v2/countries
57. Transak, public countries API, archived 2026-10-04 (no EEA country): https://web.archive.org/web/20261004110044/https://api.transak.com/api/v2/countries
58. Transak, global coverage, archived 2026-04-21 ("64+" countries): https://web.archive.org/web/20260421165617/https://transak.com/global-coverage
59. Transak, public fiat currencies API, archived 2026-06-19 (SEPA listed): https://web.archive.org/web/20260619010728/https://api.transak.com/fiat/public/v1/currencies/fiat-currencies
60. Transak, public fiat currencies API, archived 2026-10-04 (no SEPA): https://web.archive.org/web/20261004110044/https://api.transak.com/fiat/public/v1/currencies/fiat-currencies
61. MetaMask Support, buy providers and payment methods (16 US providers): https://support.metamask.io/manage-crypto/move-crypto/buy/providers-and-payment-methods/
62. Transak, buy page ("4.3 rated on Trustpilot"): https://transak.com/buy
63. Transak, off-ramp payment methods and processing times: https://transak.notion.site/Off-Ramp-Payment-Methods-Fees-Other-Details-b938af0e6ca24da9b7f2aa2bd040ea40
64. Transak, buy page for Italy (not available): https://transak.com/buy/iota/italy
65. Exodus Support, buy or sell crypto order providers: https://www.exodus.com/support/en/articles/8598908-how-do-i-get-help-with-my-buy-or-sell-crypto-order
66. Apple App Store search, "transak": https://itunes.apple.com/search?term=transak&entity=software&country=us
67. Google Play search, "transak": https://play.google.com/store/search?q=transak&c=apps&hl=en_US&gl=US