How to Withdraw Crypto from an Exchange
Moving coins off an exchange is a form with five fields and a confirmation code. What slows people down is everything around it: the network menu, flat fees, security holds of 24 to 72 hours and EU…
TL;DR
- Withdrawing means either moving coins to a wallet you control or turning them into money in your bank, and each route has its own screens.
- Match the network to one the destination supports before anything else, because the form checks the address format, which many networks share.
- Expect deliberate friction: holds of 24 to 72 hours after a password change at some exchanges, a 48-hour wait on newly allowlisted addresses at Coinbase, and limits tied to verification.
- In the EU, a withdrawal of more than EUR 1,000 to your own wallet can trigger an ownership check under rules that have applied since 30 December 2024.
On the evening of Sunday 12 June 2022, Celsius told its customers that nothing could leave. The crypto lender, which said 1.7 million people used it, paused every withdrawal, swap and transfer between accounts and blamed "extreme market conditions". It filed for bankruptcy a month later, on 13 July. The coins were still inside.
Five months on, FTX went the same way. On 8 November 2022 a member of its support team confirmed that nothing but fiat could move, after what its chief executive told employees was roughly $6 billion of net withdrawals in 72 hours.
Coins held on an exchange move when the exchange sends them. Knowing the steps, and the delays built into them, is the whole subject here. Treat it as education, none of it is financial advice.
People use "withdraw" for two separate jobs: one is moving coins off the exchange to a wallet you control, which is a blockchain transfer with an exchange's form in front of it. The other is turning coins into money in your bank account. Most of this guide covers the first job, because that is where the unfamiliar screens live, and the cash route comes at the end.
The withdrawal form, field by field
Every exchange lays the page out differently, but the fields arrive in roughly this order, and each has its own way of going wrong.
Asset. Pick the coin, then check how much of it is actually free. Coins tied up in an open order are locked, and in September 2026 the help pages at Kraken and Gemini both said to cancel the order first.
Network. The chain the coins will travel on, and the field that decides more outcomes than any other.
Destination address. Copy it fresh from the receiving wallet or the other platform's deposit screen at the moment you need it.
Memo or tag, for the handful of coins that use one.
Amount. The form shows the fee and the minimum before you commit.
Confirmation. A two-factor code and sometimes an email approval, after which the exchange broadcasts the transfer and shows a transaction ID that a block explorer for that chain can look up.
Choose the network before anything else
Plenty of tokens live on several blockchains at once, and the exchange lets you pick which one carries your withdrawal. In late September 2026 Kraken's fee table listed 19 networks for USDT alone.
The rule is short: the network you pick must be one the destination supports, so open the receiving wallet or the other platform's deposit page first and match it exactly.
Do not expect the form to catch a mismatch. It checks that the address looks valid, and Kraken's own help pages warn that different coins can share an address format. A 0x address that works on Ethereum is just as valid on Arbitrum or Polygon. The wrong choice sails through.
Where it lands decides what happens next: if the address belongs to a wallet you control on an Ethereum-style network, the same key usually controls that address on the other chain too, and adding the network in the wallet often brings the coins into view. If it belongs to another platform that does not credit that network, recovery, if it is possible at all, is up to that platform.
The cheapest option in the dropdown is only cheap if the far end can see it.
Fees, minimums and the memo box
The withdrawal fee is set by the exchange for each coin and each network, and it is often a fixed amount of the coin whatever the size of the withdrawal. In late September 2026 Kraken charged a flat 1 USDT to withdraw USDT on Tron, with a 6 USDT minimum, so the same fee applied to 10 USDT or 10,000, and small withdrawals feel that most. The final figure appears on the confirmation screen, and it can differ from what the blockchain itself charges.
The flat fee also means a test withdrawal costs a full second fee. Pay it the first time you use any new address: send a small amount above the minimum, wait until it shows at the destination, then send the rest to the identical address.
A few coins, XRP and Stellar among them, add a memo or tag field. It exists because platforms pool many customers behind one address and the tag says whose deposit it is, and the XRP Ledger even lets a business reject payments that arrive without one. When the destination is another platform, copy its tag exactly. A wallet that belongs to you alone has nobody to sort and rarely asks for one.
Why the withdraw button is greyed out
Most of the waiting is deliberate, and it clusters around the moves a hijacker would need to make.
Security changes come first. Kraken's help pages, updated on 17 September 2026, say a password change holds withdrawals to new addresses for 24 hours, while addresses already saved keep working. Gemini's help centre, checked the same month, lists 72-hour holds on crypto withdrawals after a password reset or when a new Authy two-factor device is detected. Recent purchases can be locked too: Kraken may hold withdrawals for 72 hours after some card and digital-wallet purchases, although trading carries on as normal.
Then there is whitelisting, which Coinbase calls allowlisting. Once it is on, withdrawals can only go to saved addresses, and saving one takes time. Coinbase, according to its help pages in September 2026, makes a new address wait 48 hours before it can be used, and switching the feature off takes another 48. That is maddening on the day you want to move coins and very welcome on the day somebody else is inside your account, so set it up well before you need it.
Limits come last. Kraken's limits page, updated on 3 September 2026, ties funding limits to verification status, country of residence, account age and the asset in question. They reset on rolling 24-hour and 30-day windows, so a large withdrawal can end up waiting for the window to roll over, and higher verification levels generally lift the ceiling.
The travel-rule questions
Since 30 December 2024, providers in the EU have had to collect the sender's and recipient's details for every crypto transfer under the Transfer of Funds Regulation. There is no minimum. Sending to yourself is covered as well, because the regulation's definition of a transfer applies whether or not the sender and recipient are the same person. That is why a withdrawal form may now ask whether the address belongs to a wallet you control or to an account at another platform, and whose name sits on the other end.
Above EUR 1,000 to a self-hosted wallet, the exchange must also assess whether the wallet is really yours, valuing the transfer in euros at the moment you request it. The European Banking Authority's guidelines list accepted methods, including signing a message with the wallet's key or sending a small amount, set by the exchange, from the wallet to your account. Once an address passes, the exchange can whitelist it and skip the check next time.
When you want money, not coins
Sometimes withdrawing means cash, and there are two routes. The first sells on the exchange and withdraws the money to a bank account in your own name, which keeps everything on one platform and leaves you with its fiat limits and fees.
The second withdraws the coins first and sells them through an off-ramp, a service that turns crypto back into bank money. An off-ramp such as Banxa's sell flow quotes a price, holds it for roughly 3 minutes and pays out to a bank account in your own name. Everything above still applies on that route, because the coins leave the exchange before they are sold.
Frequently Asked Questions
Two things set the time. The exchange processes the request first, which can include a review, and then the blockchain confirms the transfer. Holds can add days on top. In September 2026 Kraken held withdrawals to new addresses for 24 hours after a password change, Gemini held crypto withdrawals for 72 hours after a password reset, and some card purchases at Kraken carried a 72-hour hold.
Common causes include a recent password or two-factor change, a card purchase still inside its hold period, coins locked in an open order, a daily or monthly limit already used up, an unfinished identity check, or a newly whitelisted address still waiting out its delay. Each exchange's help pages list its own triggers and how long each one lasts.
Usually not. Tags let a platform work out which customer a payment into a shared address belongs to, which is why exchanges ask for them on XRP and Stellar deposits. A personal wallet has a single owner, so there is nothing to sort: leave the field empty unless the receiving screen shows a tag. When withdrawing to another exchange, copy its tag exactly.
Because of the EU's Transfer of Funds Regulation, which has applied since 30 December 2024. Providers must record sender and recipient details for every crypto transfer, and for more than EUR 1,000 sent to a self-hosted wallet they must assess whether you own it. Signing a message with the wallet, or sending a small set amount from it, are accepted ways to show that.
The exchange sets a fee for each coin and network, often a fixed amount of the coin, plus a minimum withdrawal. Kraken's table in late September 2026, for instance, priced a USDT withdrawal on Tron at 1 USDT with a 6 USDT minimum, one of 19 USDT networks it listed. You see the final fee on the confirmation screen before anything moves.
About the author — Dan Clarke
Dan Clarke is the author of Bitcoin: The Complete Guide and a former content lead at Binance Academy, where he wrote crypto education for readers arriving with no background in the subject. He has worked in the cryptocurrency industry since 2017. His rule for these guides: plain language first, precision where it matters, no cheerleading.