Four ways to fund a wallet
Buying inside the wallet
Most wallets now include a built-in purchase option, powered by a third-party provider. You pay by card or bank transfer and the coins appear at your address.
Convenient, and the most expensive route by a clear margin. The spread and the provider fee together commonly run several percent, which is invisible because it is folded into the rate rather than shown as a line item. Compare the quoted rate against the market price before confirming.
Verification applies here. The provider is a regulated intermediary, so KYC is part of the process.
Transferring from an exchange
The usual route for anyone who already holds crypto. You withdraw from the exchange to your own address, and the exchange charges a withdrawal fee that may exceed the actual network fee.
The step that goes wrong is network selection. An exchange withdrawing USDT will ask which chain, and the answer has to match what your wallet supports. Choose TRC-20 when your wallet only watches Ethereum, and the funds land somewhere you are not looking. The difference between the standards matters here more than anywhere.
Receiving from another person
You share an address, they send. Nothing verifies anyone, and nothing charges beyond the network fee.
Worth knowing: incoming funds carry their history. A screening system reading the chain sees where they have been, which is what KYT does, and funds that passed through a flagged source recently can complicate a later withdrawal to fiat. This is not a reason to avoid receiving transfers. It is a reason to know who is sending.
Accepting a payment
For a business, this is the answer, and it works differently from the other three. A payment gateway generates a fresh address per order, watches the network, confirms the transfer and credits the merchant. Nothing is manual and nothing needs reconciling afterwards.
The full setup is covered in the guide to accepting crypto payments.
Before the first transfer
Three checks before the first transfer
The network matches
Sender and receiver must be on the same chain. The address format tells you which one, and an address beginning 0x is valid on several networks at once, which is precisely why this check exists.
A memo, if required
Some networks ask for an identifier alongside the address. Omit it on a transfer to an exchange and the funds arrive without being credited to anyone.
A small amount first
Send a fraction, confirm arrival, then send the rest. One network fee against a mistake with no undo.