How to Send Crypto to Your Own Wallet: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners

To send crypto to a wallet you control, which is how you withdraw cryptocurrency from an exchange, copy the address from your wallet, withdraw the coins and check that they arrive. Choose the network your wallet uses before you confirm, because coins sent on the wrong network may be lost for good.

What you need before you start

• A wallet you control, already set up, with its recovery phrase written on paper. If you have not done that yet, set up a wallet of your own and read what a seed phrase is first. For Bitcoin, see how to set up a Bitcoin wallet.
• The coin and network your wallet supports. Look at the wallet's receive screen or help pages for the coin you plan to send.
• An exchange account with two-factor authentication on and coins you are allowed to withdraw. Some platforms hold new deposits before you can withdraw them, so check the holds in the buying guide before you plan a send. If you have not picked an exchange, how to choose a crypto exchange covers the withdrawal check.
• Your withdrawal limit. As of October 2026, Robinhood in the US says (opens in a new tab) its limits depend on factors such as your verification level, your transaction history and your preferred payment methods, among others. Look for yours in the app or help center.

Keep three places open next to this page: the exchange's fee page, the withdrawal screen (your send) and its help center.

How to send crypto to a wallet, step by step

1. Copy the receive address from your wallet

   Open your wallet, choose the coin and select its receive screen. A wallet address is the string of letters and numbers that tells the network where to deliver coins. Copy it from that screen, and note the network the screen names and any memo or tag it shows.

   If the wallet does not say which network the address belongs to, look in its help pages before you go on.

2. Start the withdrawal and pick the network

   In the exchange, find the send or withdraw option. As of October 2026, on Robinhood (US) (opens in a new tab), for example, you open the coin's detail page and select Send.

   If the exchange asks you to choose a network, choose the one your wallet named in the previous step. Binance.US, which serves only the US (opens in a new tab), says the most important step (opens in a new tab) is to confirm the network the receiving wallet supports. If the exchange does not offer the network your wallet uses, do not pick a different one; ask support at the exchange or the wallet.

3. Paste the address and compare all of it

   Paste the address you copied into the address field, and add the memo or tag if your wallet gave you one.

   MetaMask warns of address poisoning (opens in a new tab), where scammers send a tiny transaction from a lookalike address hoping you will copy it from your history, so never copy an address from your history. Read how address poisoning works.

   Compare the pasted address with your wallet's screen from start to finish. If any character differs, clear the field and copy it again. Robinhood says a single wrong character can result in lost funds.

   Some exchanges, such as Robinhood (US), let you save approved addresses. Robinhood offers address allowlisting, which restricts withdrawals to approved addresses and adds a 48-hour wait before a new address takes effect. If your exchange has something similar, find out its wait before you need to send. To set one up, see withdrawal address allowlist in our exchange security guide.

4. Send a small test and review the confirm screen

   Enter a small amount. Look for any minimum withdrawal on the withdrawal screen or the help pages before you choose it. The test pays its own network fee, which is the price of finding a mistake while little is at stake.

   Before you confirm, find these items on the confirm screen: the amount, the fee, the network, the address and the memo or tag, if any. If the fee, the amount or the address is missing, do not confirm; ask support first. If the network is not shown, find it in the exchange's help pages before you confirm. Binance.US says network fees tend to rise (opens in a new tab) when activity is high and fall when it is low, so a fee can differ from one day to the next.

5. Confirm the test arrived

   Find the withdrawal in the exchange's history to see its status, then look in your wallet. The amount that arrives should equal your withdrawal minus the fee the confirm screen showed, or equal the withdrawal if the screen showed the fee on top. If it does not, ask support before you send more.

   If nothing shows up, do not send the test again. Go to if your crypto does not arrive first.

6. Send the rest

   Repeat the withdrawal with the full amount. Copy the address from your wallet again and compare it with the same care, then check the confirm screen. Afterward, save the transaction ID and the date with your crypto records.

If you live in the UK or EU, an exchange may ask about the wallet you are sending to. In the EU, crypto businesses must assess whether the wallet address is yours (opens in a new tab) in some cases, for example by asking you to sign a message with the wallet. In the UK, a crypto business may ask you for information (opens in a new tab) about the transfer. Answer only inside the exchange's own app or website, and never share your recovery phrase.

Example with made-up numbers

The minimum, the fee and the amounts below are invented. Your exchange and wallet may label and group these amounts differently.

• You hold 100 Coin X on an exchange. Its minimum withdrawal is 5 Coin X, and it deducts a fee of 0.5 Coin X from each withdrawal.
• Test: you withdraw 5 Coin X. After the 0.5 fee, 4.5 Coin X arrive in your wallet.
• Main send: you withdraw the remaining 95 Coin X. After the 0.5 fee, 94.5 Coin X arrive.
• In total, 99 Coin X arrived and 1 Coin X went to fees. The test cost half of that.

On a real transfer, the amount received plus fees should equal what left your exchange balance.

Fees to expect when sending crypto out

As of October 2026, you may see two charges when coins leave an exchange:

Some exchanges, such as Binance.US (opens in a new tab) (US only), charge a withdrawal fee, and it can be bundled with the network fee. Binance.US says its crypto withdrawal fees include blockchain network fees, which are charges paid to the blockchain network for processing a transaction, plus operational fees it collects (opens in a new tab). It shows the amounts on its Preview Withdrawal screen before you confirm. Robinhood (US) says (opens in a new tab) it estimates the network fee and adds it to the amount you want to send, but with Send All it deducts the fee from the total.

Only your confirm screen shows what your send costs. For one coin's fees, see Bitcoin withdrawal fees. The costs of buying (trading fee, spread, card fee) are in fees to expect in the buying guide.

Networks, memos and tags

A network is the blockchain a transfer travels on. Robinhood (US) warns (opens in a new tab) that sending to an incompatible network can cause permanent loss. Read how to choose the right withdrawal network.

An address can look valid on the wrong network. According to ethereum.org (opens in a new tab), you can use the same address on all EVM-compatible blockchains, which are networks that accept Ethereum-style addresses, if your wallet is the type with a recovery phrase. The networks are still not interchangeable, so make sure the recipient is using the same one you are. For Ethereum, mainnet or a layer 2 is a separate choice. Address formats also differ by coin: see Litecoin address formats, Bitcoin address types and choosing an Ethereum network.

A memo or tag is an extra identifier that some coins need when many customers share one deposit address, as at an exchange. A transfer without a required one may not complete.

For your own wallet, add a memo or tag only if the receive screen shows one. If the exchange's form requires one and your wallet shows none, ask your wallet's support before you send. Read how crypto memos and destination tags work.

If your crypto does not arrive

1. Open the exchange's withdrawal history and read the status. Do not withdraw again yet, so you do not send twice.
2. Find the transaction ID (TxID), the unique identifier of a blockchain transaction, also called the transaction hash. Binance.US says you can click a withdrawal in your history (opens in a new tab) and copy the TxID. Robinhood (US) provides a link (opens in a new tab) to see the transaction's status on the blockchain.
3. Search the TxID in a block explorer, a public website that shows transactions on a blockchain. Use the explorer for the network you chose, and read how to track a transaction on a block explorer.
4. If the explorer finds it, compare the receiving address with your wallet's. If they match, check that your wallet is set to that network. If they differ, contact the exchange's support at once with the TxID, and read what to do if you sent crypto to the wrong address.
5. If the explorer finds nothing, confirm you used the right network's explorer, then ask the exchange's support.

When sending to another platform, there may be a wait. Robinhood says (opens in a new tab) it requires a certain number of network confirmations before crypto is credited, so a transfer can show on an explorer before it shows in the account. See how long a crypto transfer usually takes for what to expect. If a transfer to an exchange still has not appeared, read about a crypto deposit not credited.

After a wrong-network send, contact the receiving platform's support and the exchange you sent from. Recovery depends on each platform's policy; Binance.US, for one, says (opens in a new tab) it is not responsible for lost funds due to incorrect network selection.

Risks to understand

Robinhood (US) says (opens in a new tab) crypto transfers are final and, once sent, cannot be canceled or reversed, even by Robinhood. On another exchange the wording differs, but it is impossible to cancel or reverse (opens in a new tab) a Binance.US withdrawal from the moment the assets leave the account. Make every check before you press confirm, because once the coins have left the exchange, the transfer cannot be pulled back.

Tax rules for moving crypto, and for network fees paid in crypto, depend on your country. To see whether moving crypto to your own wallet is taxable, read our tax guide, and check your own country's tax authority.

Before your first send, set up your wallet and its recovery phrase; if you have no coins yet, start with how to buy crypto.