Rakuten is at $125 now, and TCB is at $127.26. Hat tip to reader Gadget
Update 11/25/25: Rakuten is back at $150/15,000 now. It’s been working to stack with the $75 referral bonus, as discussed in the post.
You can find a referral in this post – comments there are closed to new commenting. Do not leave a referral in the comments below and no referral fishing.
- Update 11/24/25: Rakuten is back at $125/12,500 now. Not as good as the $150 bonus we once had, but pretty close. It’s been working to stack with the $75 referral bonus, as discussed in the post.
- Update 11/20/25: Rakuten is back at $125/12,500 now. Topcashback is at $127. Not as good as the $150 bonus, but pretty close. It’s been working to stack with the $75 referral bonus, as discussed in the post. Could be we’ll see $150 again from the portals at some point.
- Update 11/17/25: Topcashback is at $152.51 now, so that’s another option. Rakuten is also still at $150/15,000. Some people have complained about Topcashback tracking so maybe it makes more sense to do the Rakuten. (Personally I used Topcashback a while back. It tracked and paid out fine for me, and it stacked with the referral as well.)
- Update 11/15/25: Rakuten now $150 again.
The Offer
Note: Kraken is a crypto app and is not FDIC/SPIC insured. Do what you’re comfortable with.
- Rakuten is offering $125 (or 12,500 points) when you signup for Kraken and trade $200.
Topcashback is offering $100 when you signup for Kraken and trade $100.We’re hearing multiple reports out there that the $220 offer from Capital One is around again (you’ll have to poke around a lot to get this and possibly still won’t get it). Update: the $220 is very widespread, just poke around in Capital One and do some click, etc.
Separately, there is a referral bonus of up to $150 for referrer and $150 for the new member when the new members signs up and trades crypto, like Bitcoin (stablecoin does not work for the referral bonus). You can signup on the web or in the mobile app, but do the crypto trading in the Kraken app. Don’t forget to input the code during the signup process. Bonus details:
- Trade $100 and get $15
- Trade $300 and get $20 ($35 total)
- Trade $500 and get $40 ($75 total)
- Trade $5,000 and get $75 ($150 total)
Reports indicate that you can do one ~$260 buy and then immediate sell ~$255 to get the entire $75 payout in one shot ($15+$20+$40). The buy and sell count separately, and so if you buy $260 and then sell ~$255 (as you typically lose a few dollars in the process on the spread) it will be more than the required $500.
Someone who wants to do $5,000 in trades, can transfer over a smaller amount (e.g. $400 or $500) and then continue to buy/sell the same money until they meet the $5,000 threshold (e.g. $2,500 in buys and then $2,500 in sells). Keep in mind there will be some loss with each sale, so you might not gain with the $5,000 deal over the $500 deal unless you know what you are doing.
Opt in to Kraken+ free trial for 30 days to save the 1% trade fees; just remember to cancel.
There are some other varieties of referral links. All referral links should work for the $75 bonus if you buy/sell $500 (e.g. $260 buy and then $255 sell). Most links also have the added $75 bonus when you buy/sell $5,000.
The Fine Print
- You need to trade actual crypto to be eligible for the referral bonus whereas for the portal bonus you can trade stablecoin, far as I can tell.
- Both the referral and the portal bonuses require the trade be done in the first 30 days.
- The Kraken Referral Program is available only in the United States (excluding Maine, Washington and New York), Canada, Netherlands, France, Spain, Poland, Italy, Belgium, and Ireland.
- (Editor’s note: A reader points out that presumably the shopping portal component should work even in the excluded states; just the referral bonus won’t work.)
Our Verdict
If you click through Rakuten, apply a referral code during signup, and then trade $500 in crypto within 30 days, you’ll end up with 15,000/$150 from Rakuten and you’ll get $75 referral bonus from Kraken. You can trade an additional $4,500 in crypto to get the additional $75 bonus, if you choose.
Myself and others were able to get the portal to stack with a referral code by clicking through the portal and then entering a referral code. Within minutes you should get the email from Kraken about the referral bonus. I did the Bitcoin trade and then immediately sold the Bitcoin since I didn’t want money tied up in crypto and subject to those long risky fluctuations.
Note: even if you do Kraken+ for free trading, you can still lose some money as the crypto cost fluctuates in the few minutes between buy/sell. I bought Bitcoin and sold it a couple of minutes later and somehow lost $6 in the process. This was with a small purchase of Bitcoin that I bought. Some people report even more losses, especially when trading larger amounts.
For that reason, many people will prefer the $75 referral bonus for an easy $150+$75 for a small $500 crypto buy. Do what you’re comfortable with. Ideas for those who want to do the $5,000/$150 tier:
- Reportedly you can use the same funds to meet a tier. For example, you can transfer in $260 and then buy $260 in Bitcoin and then sell it to meet the $500 tier ($260 buy + $255 sell = $515). Or you can transfer in $500-$600 and trade it ten times (5 times buy/sell) and meet the $5,000 tier.
- You can set a Limit price to your buys and sells which can help reduce the losses in each sale. Again, those who are not adept at these methods might prefer to just do a simple $500 buy/sell (and probably lose a few dollars along the way) in order to get the portal bonus + $75 referral bonus, and ignore the second tier.
If you are new to Rakuten shoppping portal, now is a good time to signup for the $50/5,000 signup bonus. (There’s even a chance that doing this Kraken offer will be enough to meet the spend requirement for that signup bonus.)
After signing up with Kraken, you can also ‘Spin to win’ once per day for the first 30 days, and you should end up with another $20-$30 from that. That’s a little added bonus on top. After signing up, some people might also want to do the Kraken 2% ACATS bonus, just read carefully what we wrote there and then decide.
You can find referral codes and links in this dedicated thread. Do not under any circumstance put your referral in the comments below.
