Tool · funding routes side by side
Payment method comparison
Comparison tables usually cover the happy path and stop. This one includes the failure column, because how a route breaks matters more to a first-time buyer than a few tenths of a percent in fees.
Rates. Fees for every method here vary by country, currency, card scheme, platform and month, and a number printed on a page becomes quietly wrong without anyone noticing. The cost column describes the shape of the charge instead — whether it is a markup, a spread, or nothing — and the live figure is on the deposit screen when you choose the method.
| Method | Where it works | Speed | Cost | Limits | Good for | How it usually fails |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bank transfer (instant rail) | Where a national instant-payment system exists and the platform supports it | Seconds to minutes, including weekends | Usually free to deposit | Set by your bank; typically high | The default choice wherever it is offered — card speed at transfer cost | Missing or wrong reference code; sent from an account in another name |
| Bank transfer (standard) | Essentially everywhere | Same working day to about three; weekends do not count | Usually free to deposit | Set by your bank; typically high | Larger amounts, and anyone not in a hurry | Reference omitted, so it needs manual matching; first payment to a new payee held for a security check |
| Debit card | Most countries, most platforms | Minutes, often instant | A processing markup — the most expensive ordinary route on most platforms | Lower per transaction and per day than transfers | A small first purchase you want completed today | Declined by your own bank, which blocks crypto merchants by default surprisingly often |
| Credit card | Some countries and platforms; prohibited in others | Minutes | Exchange markup, plus your issuer may treat it as a cash advance: separate fee, higher rate, no grace period | Card limit, often reduced for cash-advance treatment | Very little. See the guide before considering it | Blocked by issuer; rewards excluded; interest accruing from day one |
| Third-party payment apps | Region-specific; varies month to month | Usually minutes | Varies widely; frequently a spread rather than a stated fee | Often low | Places where card and transfer are both awkward | Availability changes without notice; name on the app must match the account |
| Peer-to-peer marketplace | Widely offered, more used in some regions than others | Minutes to hours, depending on the counterparty | Often no platform fee, but the price you get is the cost | Set per advertisement | Regions with limited banking access to exchanges | Counterparty disputes; funds locked in escrow during a dispute; payment chargebacks by the buyer |
| Crypto deposit from elsewhere | Always, if you already hold crypto | Minutes to an hour, depending on network and confirmations | A network fee, fixed rather than proportional | A minimum deposit per network | Moving between platforms — not a route to a first purchase | Wrong network selected, which commonly loses the funds permanently |
Checked 2026-08. Availability of payment methods is the fastest-moving column in this table — regional payment partners are added and dropped several times a year. Where this table and your deposit screen disagree, your deposit screen is right. Tell us and we will update it.
How to read this table, and why there are no percentages in it
Which column actually decides it
For most first-time buyers, not the cost column. It is speed against cost, and the honest question is whether waiting a day or two is worth a few percent of your money. On a first purchase there is no deadline, which tends to make the answer obvious once it is asked out loud.
The exception is where an instant payment rail exists in your country and the platform supports it. Then the trade-off disappears entirely: transfer speed matches a card and the cost does not.
Why the failure column is here
Because it is what people are actually searching for at the moment it matters. A declined card looks like a problem with the exchange and is almost always a policy at your own bank. A bank transfer that vanishes is usually a missing reference code, not a lost payment. Knowing the characteristic failure of the route you chose turns a frightening hour into a phone call.
The one row to be careful with
Crypto deposits from another platform or wallet. Selecting the wrong network on a transfer is the single most expensive mistake available on any of these screens, and unlike everything else in this table, it is generally not recoverable. If you are moving coins rather than money, read what a withdrawal actually does first.
Where the information comes from
The structure of each route — how it settles, who charges what, what the failure modes are — comes from how these payment systems work rather than from any one platform's marketing. Anything platform-specific is deliberately left to the platform's own screens, which are the authority and are current. The month of our last review is stamped above the table.
Who this is for
Someone at step 06 of the roadmap, deciding how to get money onto an exchange for the first time. If you have already deposited, the more useful page is the fee breakdown, which explains what the route you chose actually cost you.