Centralized exchange · since 2017 Global centralized exchange launched in 2017, offering spot, margin, futures, trading bots and earn products.
New users: New-user welcome rewards (USDT and coupons) worth up to 3,200 USDT
Claim on KuCoin ↗
Peer-to-peer RFQ derivatives protocol on Arbitrum; its Omni app offers zero-fee perpetuals on 500+ crypto and traditional markets.
New users: Weekly points toward the VAR genesis airdrop, plus loss refunds
Claim on Variational ↗
KuCoinVariational
Trading fees (base tier)
Spot maker0.1%—
Spot taker0.1%—
Futures maker0.02%0%
Futures taker0.06%0%
Markets (live)
Coins listed1,039566
Coins with perpetuals682566
Coins with spot pairs8140
24h volume$3.58B—
Coins only here499 coins trade on both54067
New listings (detected live)
Last 30 days5—
Last 90 days5—
Perpetuals listed on both
Cheaper on more coinsof 470 shared perps, by mid price269 coins198 coins
Average funding (24h)positive = longs pay shorts+0.019%+0.005%
Typical price gapmedian between the two venues0.088%0.088%
Safety and access
Proof of reservesYes · monthly · HackenYes · real-time
Licenses3EU: MiCA authorisation via KuCoin EU (Austria), Australia: AUSTRAC digital currency exchange registration, Thailand: licensed exchange under the Thai SECNone listed
Restricted regions11 regionsUnited States, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia…10 regionsUnited States and US territories (incl. Puerto Rico, Guam, US Virgin Islands), Canada, Taiwan, Cuba, Iran…
HeadquartersNo single official HQ; global operator historically Seychelles-registered (Peken Global Limited); current global Terms of Use are governed by Turks and Caicos Islands law—
Exchange tokenKCSVAR
Incidents on record40
KuCoin or Variational?
KuCoin and Variational are compared here on what matters when you choose where to trade: base trading fees, how many coins each lists, how quickly they add new ones, perpetual prices and funding on the coins both list, and safety signals such as proof of reserves and restricted regions. Live numbers update from the exchanges' public market data; fees and policies were checked against each exchange's own pages.
KuCoin lists 1,039 coins and Variational 566. 499 coins trade on both, 540 only on KuCoin and 67 only on Variational. In the last 30 days KuCoin added 5 new coins and Variational —.
On the 470 perpetual contracts listed on both exchanges, KuCoin was cheaper on 269 and Variational on 198, with a typical gap of 0.088%. Gaps like these are what the arbitrage scanner tracks; average 24h funding on the shared coins was +0.019% on KuCoin and +0.005% on Variational.
Fees above are base-tier rates before VIP levels and token discounts; KuCoin offers 3 discount options and Variational offers 3 discount options. Availability depends on where you live, so check the restricted regions before signing up.