How to move crypto from an exchange to your own wallet

To move crypto from an exchange to your own wallet, you create a wallet, back up its recovery phrase on paper, copy your receive address for the coin and its network, and use the exchange's Withdraw function to send to that address. Send a small test amount first and wait until it arrives before you send the rest. The exchange charges the withdrawal fee. Receiving costs nothing.

Why people do it, and why some should not

On an exchange such as Coinbase, Binance or Kraken, the company holds the keys. Your balance is its promise to pay you. If the exchange is hacked, fails or pauses withdrawals, you wait with everyone else. In your own wallet the keys are on your device, and nobody else can move or freeze the coins.

That does not make an exchange the wrong place for everyone. It does three things better.

Recovery. You log in with an email and a password, and a lost password can be reset.
Regular money. The exchange is connected to your bank account or card, so buying and selling for your own currency happens in one place.
Trading. An order book with many buyers and sellers gives tight prices and order types that suit frequent trading.

If you trade often, or doubt that you would keep a sheet of paper safe for years, leaving coins on the exchange is a reasonable choice. Many people use both.

What changes when you hold the coins yourself

There is no password reset. The recovery phrase, a list of words the wallet gives you at setup, is the only way back in if the phone is lost. The wallet maker has no copy.
There is no withdrawal freeze. No company can pause, limit or review what you send.
There is no undo. A transaction to a wrong address or a wrong network is final, and no support desk can pull it back.
You carry the backup. It has to stay offline, private and safe from fire and theft for as long as you hold the coins.

Before you start

Take pen and paper, and make sure nobody can see your screen.
Know which coin you are moving and which network it lives on. BTC lives on Bitcoin, ETH on Ethereum. A network is the blockchain a coin travels on. Some tokens, for example USDC, exist on several networks, and each version is a separate asset.

The steps

The network you pick decides where the coins land, and a small test shows it before the rest.

Install a wallet from the official store. Start on the wallet maker's own website and follow its link to the App Store or Google Play. Do not install from a link in an ad, an email or a message.
Create a wallet. The app generates the keys on your phone. A self-custody wallet asks for no email and no account.
Back up the recovery phrase on paper before any money arrives. Write the words down in order, check the spelling and store the paper somewhere safe.
Find your receive address for the right coin and network. The wallet shows it as text and as a QR code and names the network it belongs to.
On the exchange, choose Withdraw. Some exchanges call it Send. Select the coin.
Pick the same network. If the exchange offers several networks for one coin, choose the one your address belongs to. Do not choose by the lowest fee. Binance says this in its own instructions, and both Binance and Kraken warn that a withdrawal on the wrong network can be lost for good.
Paste the address and compare it. Never type it by hand. Check the first and the last characters against the address in your wallet.
Send a small test first. Binance suggests this itself when you use a new address.
Wait for it. How long depends on the network and on the exchange's own processing. Do not send more until the test shows in your wallet.
Send the rest. Use the same address and the same network.

What the exchange may ask

The rules differ by exchange and by country. These three are described in the exchanges' own help pages.

Address whitelisting. Binance offers a whitelist. When it is on, the account can only withdraw to addresses you saved and confirmed beforehand.
A waiting period. Kraken places a temporary 72-hour withdrawal hold on an account after certain purchases, for example by card.
Who owns the wallet. Anti-money-laundering rules known as the travel rule require exchanges to collect information about transfers. Kraken tells its EU and UK clients that it may ask them to confirm they own the receiving wallet for transfers worth more than 1,000 EUR, either with a declaration or by sending a small test amount. Answer truthfully that it is your own wallet.

None of these means something is wrong. They add time, not risk.

Fees

The withdrawal fee is the exchange's fee, not the wallet's. It depends on the coin and on the network, and each network also has a minimum amount. The exchange shows the fee before you confirm, and whether it is added on top or taken from the amount that arrives.

A fixed fee takes a large share of a very small withdrawal, and the test in step 8 costs the fee a second time. That is still cheaper than a mistake with the full amount.

Later, when you send from your own wallet, you pay the network fee yourself in the network's native coin, for example ETH for a token on Ethereum. If you withdraw only tokens, plan for that.

Common mistakes

Wrong network. The network on the exchange must match the network of your address.
Memo or tag confusion. Exchanges give many customers the same deposit address and tell them apart by a memo or destination tag. You need one when you send to an exchange. Your own wallet address belongs only to you, so it needs none.
A token on a chain your wallet does not show. Check the wallet's list of supported networks before you withdraw.
An address copied from a chat. Copy it from the receive screen of your wallet every time, not from a message or the transaction history.
The phrase in a screenshot or a cloud note. Photos and notes sync to online services. Paper does not.
Typing the phrase anywhere. No exchange, website or support agent needs your recovery phrase for a withdrawal. Anyone who asks for it is a thief.

If the coins do not show up

First look at the withdrawal status on the exchange. If it is still processing, the coins have not left yet. Once the withdrawal is sent, look up your address in a block explorer, a public website that shows a network's transactions. If the transaction is confirmed there, the coins are at your address and the wallet only has to display them. For THORWallet, the checks are in balance or token not showing.

If you picked a different network than you intended, do not send anything else. Contact the support of your wallet and of the exchange before you try a fix.

How THORWallet fits

THORWallet is a self-custody wallet for iPhone and Android. The download page links to the official store listings. It has two wallet types.

A seed wallet runs on one device and is backed up with a 12-word recovery phrase. See what is a self-custody wallet.
In a multi-device vault several of your own devices sign together. Setup needs at least two devices. Each device keeps its own backup file and there is no recovery phrase. See what is a multisig wallet.

THORWallet does not show your addresses until the backup is done, so step 3 cannot be skipped. To find an address, open the asset, tap Receive and read the network named under the address. Several networks, among them Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base and BNB Chain, share one address in THORWallet, so the network you pick on the exchange decides where the coins land. Receiving is free.

If you hold no crypto yet, you can skip the exchange: how to buy crypto straight into your own wallet.

How to do it in THORWallet

Step-by-step articles from the help center, checked against the current app.

How to install THORWalletInstall THORWallet on iPhone, iPad and Android, or use it on a computer as the web app or as THORWallet Terminal for Mac and Windows.
How to create a wallet or add another walletCreate your first THORWallet wallet step by step, add a second wallet, switch between wallets, and rename or remove one.
How to back up your recovery phraseBack up the 12-word recovery phrase of a THORWallet seed wallet, find it again later in Settings, and learn what you must never do with it.
How to receive cryptoFind your address or QR code in THORWallet, share it with the sender and check that both sides use the same network.
Balance or token not showingWhat to do when a balance is missing, shows zero or does not update in THORWallet, with the checks to run before you contact support.

Sources

Reviewed on 12 Nov 2026. Statements about THORWallet were checked against the help center, and the sources above were opened on that day. This guide explains how things work. It is not financial advice.

FAQ

Quick answers.

Is it risky to withdraw crypto from an exchange to my own wallet?

The transfer itself is routine when the network and the address match, and a small test shows that before you move the rest. After that, safety depends on how well you keep the recovery phrase.

What does the withdrawal cost?

The exchange charges a withdrawal fee that depends on the coin and the network, and it shows the fee before you confirm. Receiving in your own wallet is free.

Do I need a memo or destination tag for my own wallet?

No. Tags exist for services that share one address among many customers, such as exchanges. An address in your own wallet belongs only to you.

Should I move everything off the exchange?

Not necessarily. An exchange is simpler for trading and for changing crypto into regular money. Many people keep there what they plan to sell soon and move what they intend to hold.

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