Kraken is preparing to reintroduce an app with agent trading at its core, which could be the next major competitive battleground for crypto exchanges, the company exclusively told CNBC.
Agent trading is when an AI agent autonomously makes trading decisions, executes trades, and sometimes manages portfolios based on human input. Unlike traditional automated systems that follow fixed rules, agent platforms can evaluate multiple variables, learn from new information, and pursue goals defined by human direction, within set parameters.
Kraken said its platform gives users access to agents who can continuously monitor the market, identify investment opportunities and execute trades in real-time. The announcement reflects a broader shift towards artificial intelligence-native financial products, as large-scale language models and autonomous systems reshape how investors and markets engage.
“AI will help the general public react to market conditions in the same way that our most active traders react. Even during market downturns, we’ve seen that our professional traders are very active, engaged on the platform, and continue to trade. And it’s important that our more casual customers have the same capabilities and are as well-informed as professional traders,” said Kamo Asatrian, chief data officer at Kraken.
This vision reflects structural changes similar to the rise of mobile trading and algorithmic investing. Making financial services a mobile experience and giving people trading apps may have made them more accessible, but that doesn’t necessarily mean everyone can become a confident and successful investor. Kraken believes AI can bridge that gap by bringing all customers closer to the experience and support that professional traders have always received.
The app’s onboarding experience uses AI to learn your goals, risk tolerance, funding preferences, and financial profile in a single, streamlined flow. Based on that information, the AI creates a draft portfolio that users can review, adjust, and approve, and provides explanations behind its recommendations. Once an investment is made, users receive advance recommendations, including AI-curated insights, portfolio-related news, and identifying opportunities to optimize idle funds. The platform aims to use AI over time to customize both conversations and the app’s interface.
This experience is agentic, but not fully autonomous. AI proactively uncovers opportunities and recommends next steps, but does not take action on its own. Trades and recommendations are executed only with the customer’s explicit confirmation, giving the customer control over every decision.
“Talking to Kraken should be like talking to a knowledgeable best friend who not only knows a lot about finance, but who also knows you, who knows your goals and interests, and who can help you navigate through all these different options, all the different assets, products, and markets to actually achieve your goals without being an expert or a professional trader,” Asatrian said.
This is also part of a broader transformation where AI is becoming part of the core infrastructure rather than a function, and where the key relationship is increasingly shifting from the human user to the agent managing that capital. Companies that successfully integrate autonomous trading capabilities may gain an advantage in engagement, trading activity, and retention.
The opportunity to discuss AI-powered investment opportunities “frees up a lot of access and a lot of engagement from the public,” Asatrian said. “Traditionally, it’s been the domain of professional traders, and the use of indicators and APIs and high-frequency trading activities that they do are all like that. But in this new world, the average person has the opportunity to become a high-frequency trader and use simple English to become a high-frequency trader by just talking to their knowledgeable best friend.”
Kraken joins broader industry movement towards AI-powered crypto services – exchange competitors coinbase and gemini For example, we recently introduced AI-assisted trading and developer tools during a prolonged bear market in crypto asset prices. This is typically a time when industry builders put their heads down and focus on innovation.
Asatrian argued that the growing role of AI in cryptocurrencies represents a “real growth opportunity” and not just a bear market fad.
“Traditionally, exchanges have problems in bear markets because most of their customers have problems in bear markets,” he said. “[They]engage with those exchanges because of FOMO. … They buy at the top, sell when the price goes down, and exit. What we’ve seen on our platform is that[traders]can take advantage of every price movement and stay engaged through different market cycles.”
Kraken is one of the oldest cryptocurrency exchanges, founded in 2011. Asatrian said its core user base consists of institutions, trading companies, professional traders, and active leverage traders. Its retail users have likely been trading cryptocurrencies for many years.
He also talked about the new set of customers that Kraken is “looking to bring online” as it “evolves beyond being an exchange” and “looks to build a full-stack financial services platform across payments, banking, lending and more.”
“These are areas that cryptocurrencies have historically not touched, but with stablecoins and tokenized assets, access and functionality, use cases and utility extend far beyond exchanges,” Asatrian said. “AI will make all of this easily accessible to everyone. That’s going to happen in the future.”
