Funding Wallet from a CEX

This guide covers buying SPL tokens from a centralized cryptocurrency exchange (CEX) and transferring them to your Solana wallet.

Here, the Binance cryptocurrency exchange is used to fund a Solana wallet with USDC and SOL. The process for other centralized exchanges is very similar.

If in doubt, check centralized exchange docs and forums for a guide on how to withdraw funds to a SPL (Solana) wallet.

Create an account with a crypto exchange

You will need to register an account with the centralized exchange of your choosing. This generally takes some time and will require you to provide some personal details to support the exchange’s KYC process.

Be sure to check that your centralized exchange supports:

  • Purchasing spot SOL and USDC

  • Solana network withdrawals of USDC and SOL

Top up your exchange account with FIAT funds

To begin, you will need to transfer FIAT funds (i.e. Euros, Pounds Sterling, U.S. Dollars, etc) from your bank account to the exchange. Most exchanges support bank transfers as well as debit/credit card top-ups.

You will need to follow the steps for the given exchange you're operating with, but the process is generally well explained in their docs. Sometimes, top-up processes may take a day or two to clear before the funds appear in your exchange account.

Buy SOL and USDC on the exchange

Once you have FIAT funds available within your exchange account, you will be able to trade and purchase assets.

Make sure that you are always trading the spot asset, and not futures or other derivative contracts supported by some exchanges.

Different exchanges will offer different trading pairs - for example, SOL/USD, SOL/USDC, SOL/USDT, USDC/USD, USDC/USDT, USDC/BUSD, etc.

Depending on the currency of your deposit/top-up, you may have to trade from it to a token which can trade against the token you wish to acquire.

For example, if you deposited in EURO, you would need to exchange your EURO for USD before you purchase SOL as there is no SOL/EUR pair offered.

1. Search or navigate to the market for the asset you wish to purchase (SOL and USDC).

2. Specify the buy order you wish to place by selecting your order type, the price (if not using a market order) and the quantity. Then, place your order.

A 'market order' is generally the quickest and simplest order type to place. It will fill the order at the best price currently available.

In the example below, a BUY market order for 0.09 SOL (estimated to cost around 10.7 EUR at the current price) is placed.

Some exchanges will allow withdrawal of USD to be converted to USDC seamlessly as part of the withdrawal process, while others will require you to explicitly trade USD (or other fiat deposits) for USDC.

Withdraw to your Solana wallet

Once your orders have been executed, you should be able to view your SOL and USDC (or simply USD - depending on the exchange) balance within your centralized exchange wallet or balances tab.

Next, you need to withdraw these tokens to your Solana Wallet.

  1. For each asset, you’ll need to initiate a withdrawal process by clicking 'Withdraw'.

2. Open your Solana wallet and obtain it’s address by copying and pasting it from the wallet’s header.

It's important to remember that transactions on the blockchain cannot be reversed, so it is up to you to make sure that the public key (address) you provide is correct.

If the funds are transferred to the wrong address there is nothing that you or the exchange will be able to do about it.

Please double-check the address before sending any tokens to it.

3. Complete the remainder of the withdrawal form, which will generally require you to provide:

  • The amount of the token to be withdrawn

  • The address of the wallet you would like to withdraw to

  • Some sort of authentication - for example a Google Authentication or SMS two-factor authentication.

Some tokens (such as USDC or USDT) exist on multiple blockchains, and initiating a withdrawal will require you to also specify which network you wish to withdraw funds onto.

This will be described as either 'Solana', 'Solana SPL' or as 'SPL Token'.

See 'Withdrawal Method' below in this example.

Withdrawals sometimes incur a fee to cover the blockchain gas costs - though typically for Solana withdrawals these are free or very low cost.

4. It will usually take your exchange some time (generally a matter of minutes, but could be up to an hour or more on rare occasions) to withdraw these funds.

Once you have been notified that they have been successfully withdrawn, you should be able to see them within your Solana wallet.

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