Best crypto exchanges in the United States

Coinbase is the only one of our picks available in New York, and we found no state it excludes. Kraken doesn't serve New York or Maine, and OKX and Crypto.com don't serve New York. Each exchange needs a money transmitter license in most states, plus New York's BitLicense, because there is no federal license for a spot crypto exchange.

On top of state licenses, Kraken, OKX, Crypto.com and Binance.US say they are registered with FinCEN as money services businesses. That registration is about anti-money-laundering rules; it isn't an endorsement and doesn't protect your money. To check a company yourself:

• Search its name or NMLS ID on NMLS Consumer Access to see each state license and its status.
• In New York, check the NYDFS list of regulated virtual currency businesses. Of our four picks, only Coinbase is on it.
• Confirm the US company's name in the exchange's own legal page before you deposit, and make sure the site you are on is the real one.

Kraken was the only exchange whose full cost we could work out from published fees: $9.22 to buy $1,000 of Bitcoin with a market order on Kraken Pro and send it to your own wallet, or 0.92%. Coinbase Advanced's published cost was $9.00, but that leaves out its Bitcoin withdrawal fee, an estimate shown only when you send, so Kraken stays cheaper unless that fee is under $0.22. OKX's trading fee was the lowest at $3.50, but we couldn't verify its US order book or withdrawal fee.

Two things move the real number. The first is the screen you buy from: simple-buy screens include a spread, while order books charge a published fee, and a limit order that adds liquidity pays the lower maker fee (0.20% at OKX, 0.40% at Kraken, 0.50% at Coinbase). The second is how you fund it. ACH is free at Kraken, OKX and Crypto.com, while a debit card costs $0.25 plus 3.75% at Kraken.

Subscriptions help regular buyers. Coinbase One starts at $4.99 a month for zero trading fees on up to $500 of trades a month, and Kraken+ costs $4.99 a month for zero fees on up to $10,000 a month of Instant Buy, Sell and Convert. A spread still applies with both. Our fee calculator compares order sizes across every exchange we have reviewed.

Use ACH. It is free at Kraken, OKX and Crypto.com, and Coinbase supports it but doesn't publish a fee. ACH is slow, though: Kraken holds withdrawals for seven days after an ACH deposit, and Coinbase quotes one to five business days. Wires and instant payments are faster but cost more.

Don't buy crypto with a credit card. Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citi, Discover and PNC treat crypto purchases as cash advances, which typically means a fee of $10 or 5% and interest from the first day. We found no major US bank that publicly blocks ACH transfers to exchanges, and some now sell crypto themselves; our guide to crypto-friendly banks in the US covers them.

Your crypto isn't. The FDIC says deposit insurance doesn't cover crypto assets and doesn't protect against the failure of a crypto exchange, and SIPC doesn't protect crypto that isn't a registered security. What can be insured is US dollar cash an exchange keeps for you at a partner bank. Coinbase says the dollars it holds as cash sit in pooled custodial accounts at insured banks or credit unions, where pass-through FDIC or NCUSIF cover of up to $250,000 per customer may apply if that bank fails. It may also hold customer dollars in Treasuries or money market funds, which deposit insurance doesn't cover.

If an exchange goes bankrupt, customers can end up as creditors. In the Celsius case in 2023, a bankruptcy judge ruled that crypto in its Earn accounts belonged to the company's estate rather than to the account holders. Stablecoins get new protection soon: under the GENIUS Act, holders get first claim on a failed issuer's reserves, and customers get priority over a custodian's other creditors, once the Act takes effect on January 18, 2027.

That makes custody the real safety question. Keep only what you trade on an exchange, and move long-term holdings to a self-custody wallet. Our best crypto wallets for the US list covers the options.

Coinbase and Kraken are the safest choices on the evidence we could check. Coinbase is the most heavily licensed, holds a New York BitLicense and files quarterly results with the SEC. Kraken publishes proof of reserves for a June 30, 2026 snapshot. The SEC dropped its 2023 lawsuits against both in 2025.

• Check the US company's license in your state on NMLS Consumer Access before you deposit.
• Turn on app-based two-factor authentication and withdrawal address allowlisting.
• Never send crypto to someone who contacted you first about an investment, and ignore offers to recover lost crypto for a fee.
• Report fraud to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center, which says it never contacts people for money.

Scams are the bigger risk. The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center received reports of $11.4 billion in cryptocurrency-related losses in 2025, $7.2 billion of it from crypto investment fraud. Losses at crypto ATMs reached $389 million, up 58% on 2024.

Coinbase is our pick for beginners in the US: it scored 4.7 out of 5 for ease of use in our review, it is the only pick that serves New York, and it accepts ACH, debit cards and PayPal. Crypto.com, at 4.6, is the better choice if you want everything in one app. Kraken and OKX suit you better once you are comfortable with an order book.

The catch is the price on the buy button. Simple-buy screens include a spread, and Coinbase says its simple-buy fee varies by payment method. Once you are comfortable, Coinbase Advanced has no spread and a published fee. Start small with a recurring weekly or monthly buy, and read our guide to buying Bitcoin for each step.

Kraken is the best crypto exchange in the US for active traders. Kraken Pro's fees fall from 0.40% maker and 0.80% taker to 0.30% and 0.60% from $2,500 of monthly volume and 0.22% and 0.38% from $10,000, and Kraken Derivatives US offers CME futures and perpetual futures listed on Bitnomial, which Kraken's parent bought in 2026. OKX has the lowest posted spot fees, and Coinbase Advanced the most-traded BTC/USD market.

Leveraged trading is regulated by the CFTC rather than the states. Coinbase offers US customers perpetual-style futures through Coinbase Financial Markets, a CFTC-registered futures commission merchant, and Kraken does the same through NinjaTrader Clearing. Read our guide to perpetual futures before you use leverage.

No. Eight of the 12 exchanges we checked don't serve US residents through a US company. Binance agreed to leave the US entirely in its 2023 settlement, and KuCoin agreed to exit for at least two years when it pleaded guilty in 2025. Bybit, Bitget, MEXC and Gate exclude the US in their own terms, Bitpanda doesn't operate there, and BTCC accepts US users without any US state license we could find.

A FinCEN registration alone doesn't make an exchange licensed to serve you: it is an anti-money-laundering filing, not a state license. Using an offshore exchange also leaves you without a US complaint route, and your tax reporting duties don't change.

The IRS treats crypto as property. Selling it, trading one coin for another or spending it is a taxable disposal, while moving coins between your own wallets isn't. Gains on coins held a year or less are taxed as ordinary income; on coins held longer, the long-term rate for 2026 is 0% up to $49,450 of taxable income for single filers and $98,900 for married couples filing jointly.

Exchanges now report to the IRS. Brokers file Form 1099-DA with gross proceeds for sales from January 1, 2025, and add cost basis for coins bought from January 1, 2026. Small stablecoin sales under $10,000 a year can be left off the form, but you must report every gain or loss whether or not you get one. The rule that would have covered decentralized platforms was repealed in April 2025. For 2026, IRS Notice 2026-20 lets you identify which coins you sold in your own records, so the basis on your 1099-DA may not match your books.

Staking rewards are income when you gain control of them, under Revenue Ruling 2023-14. The wash-sale rule doesn't apply to crypto under current law, but a House bill that passed the Ways and Means Committee on September 16, 2026 would change that, so don't plan around it lasting. The IRS digital assets page is the place to check current rules.

Federal enforcement eased, banks moved in, and Congress passed a stablecoin law but stalled on market structure. These are the dates that matter.

• February 24, 2025: OKX's global company pleads guilty and agrees to pay more than $504 million.
• February 27, 2025: the SEC announces it will dismiss its case against Coinbase; it drops the Kraken case on March 27 and the Binance case on May 29.
• April 10, 2025: Congress repeals the IRS broker rule for decentralized platforms.
• April 15, 2025: OKX relaunches its US exchange.
• July 18, 2025: the GENIUS Act, the first federal stablecoin law, is signed. It takes effect on January 18, 2027.
• February 20, 2026: Crypto.com wins OCC preliminary conditional approval for a national trust bank; Coinbase follows on April 2.
• September 15, 2026: the Senate fails, 49 to 50, to advance the CLARITY Act, the market-structure bill.
• September 16, 2026: Coinbase resets its Advanced fee tiers: US entry fees become 0.50% maker and 0.90% taker, and the first volume tier starts at $10,000 instead of $25,000.

Without a federal market-structure law, state licenses and FinCEN registration still decide who can serve you. Watch New York's list and your own state's NMLS records rather than headlines.