Why is my bitcoin withdrawal pending on Kraken?

What each Kraken withdrawal status means

Kraken’s help pages give a bitcoin withdrawal one of six statuses. The first two mean Kraken hasn’t sent it yet: it is still checking the withdrawal or handing it to the system that sends it, which Kraken says usually takes up to 10 minutes each. From Sending onwards the withdrawal is on the Bitcoin network and has a transaction ID, so it can be looked up.

If it says Sending or Success, look it up

On Kraken Pro, go to Portfolio, then the Spot tab, and scroll to Funding transactions. Select the withdrawal: a window shows its details, with a button to copy the transaction ID. Paste that ID into UTXOHub’s search. The payment’s page says whether it is waiting for a block or confirmed and, if it is waiting, roughly when it will probably confirm. Success means one confirmation; a wallet or exchange receiving it may wait for more before it shows the bitcoin as available.

• Check the network you picked. Kraken can also send bitcoin over Lightning, which has no transaction ID to look up, or as kBTC on Ethereum and other networks, which isn’t on the Bitcoin blockchain at all.
• Kraken sends bitcoin to addresses that start with 1, 3, bc1 or bc1p, and over Lightning to invoices that start with lnbc.

If Kraken won’t send your bitcoin yet

Kraken holds withdrawals for a time after some purchases and account changes. Bitcoin bought with a card, Apple Pay, Google Pay or PayPal can be held for 72 hours, and a purchase paid by bank transfer through Plaid (ACH) for seven days. The hold covers the amount you bought, not your whole balance, and you can still trade. After a password change, withdrawals to new addresses are held for up to 24 hours. A new withdrawal address may also need confirming through a link Kraken emails you, within an hour. In each case nothing is on the Bitcoin network yet, so no block explorer can show it.

• To see a hold, select the tooltip icon in the withdrawal steps, or type “I can’t withdraw.” in Kraken’s chat.
• On hold means Kraken’s support team has to review the withdrawal by hand. Only Kraken can release it.

If bitcoin sent to Kraken isn’t showing up

Kraken credits a bitcoin deposit after three confirmations, which it estimates at about 45 minutes, though a slow block or a low fee can make it longer. The sender chose the fee. Ask the sender for the transaction ID and look it up: if it has fewer than three confirmations, it is still on its way. If it has three or more and still isn’t credited, check the address it went to against your Kraken deposit address, and check status.kraken.com for delays.

• Kraken’s minimum bitcoin deposit is 0.0001 BTC. A smaller deposit is marked Failed and Kraken says it is lost for good, even if you send more afterwards.
• A deposit address can expire. Kraken says bitcoin sent to an expired address can still be credited, minus a fee.
• Kraken says deposits sent through CoinJoin or other mixing tools won’t be credited and may be lost.

Cancelling or speeding up a withdrawal

Kraken says you can ask to cancel a withdrawal only while it is Initiated or Pending, from its entry in Funding transactions, and that a request while it is Pending may not work. Once it has been broadcast to the Bitcoin network, it can’t be cancelled. Kraken takes a set fee for each bitcoin withdrawal from its own list, and its help pages describe no way to raise the fee afterwards, so a Sending withdrawal waits for a block like any other payment.

Fake Kraken support

Kraken warns that scammers call, text or email to say a withdrawal is pending or your account is at risk, and that fake Kraken phone numbers appear in search ads, social media and fake review sites. Kraken says it never messages first on social media and only calls when you have arranged it, with a banner in the app to prove it. Never share a 2FA code, an approval link or your recovery words, and don’t install software because a caller asks.