How do I get my money to the bank without paying a fortune?
Last reviewed: August 2026
The short answer
For almost everyone, the cheapest route is to sell on an exchange that withdraws to your local bank in your currency and transfer. It usually costs on the order of 0–1% all in, because the bank withdrawal is free or close to it, and what you pay is the selling fee. The other paths look cheaper until you add the spread, the card fees, or the risk of a frozen account.
It's the second most common question after "how do I receive it," and the one fewest guides answer well: almost all of them list options, but none says what each one costs.
The five paths, with their cost
These are orders of magnitude, not price lists: they depend on the exchange and the country, so check your exchange's fee table before moving money.
| Path | What it costs you | How long | KYC | Freeze risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Local exchange (sell and withdraw to the bank) | ~0–1%: selling fee + bank withdrawal (many charge $0, others a flat fee or ~1%) | hours to 3 days | Yes | Low |
| P2P (you sell to a person) | Spread of ~1–5% off the market price, sometimes more depending on currency and payment method | minutes to hours | Yes (on the platform) | High: this is where accounts get frozen |
| Crypto card (spend without touching the bank) | ~0–2% to load + ~0–3% currency conversion; sometimes a maintenance fee | instant | Yes | Low, but the issuer may leave your country |
| Gift cards (crypto → an Amazon, Uber… code) | A ~2–5% discount in your favor on some, but you can only spend at that merchant | minutes | No (small amounts) | No bank risk |
| Don't cash out: pay directly in crypto | Only the gas of the transfer: cents on cheap networks | seconds | No | No bank risk |
Cents of gas. Only works if whoever you pay accepts crypto.
~0–1%. A couple of days. Leaves a tidy tax trail.
Up to ~5% between loading and conversion. Instant.
Variable spread and the risk of the bank freezing your account.
When each path wins
By amount:
- Under ~$100: don't cash out. If it's to buy something, a gift card or a direct payment. A flat bank withdrawal fee eats a silly share of $50.
- Hundreds to a few thousand: local exchange. It's boring, and that's the point: every step has a receipt.
- Large amounts: local exchange, in several regular withdrawals, not one. The bank worries more about an isolated movement with no history than about the amount (see below).
By country:
- There's a regulated exchange that deposits in your currency (Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Chile and several others have one): use it. The concrete rails for each country are in Crypto in Latin America.
- No exchange deposits in your local currency, or the bank rejects those transfers: that's where P2P is sometimes the only way out. Do it with the rules below, in small amounts, and keep everything.
- You live under currency controls: the "P2P price" can be better than the official rate and worse than the market rate at the same time. Compare against the dollar that actually applies to you, not the one on Google.
What no fee table tells you
The real cost of a route is the fee plus what happens if it goes wrong. P2P can win by 2% and lose your entire bank balance for two months. That's why the local exchange wins even when it isn't always the cheapest on paper.
Path 1: local exchange
- You send your crypto to the exchangeon the cheapest network it accepts
- You sell for your local currencythis is where the selling fee goes
- You withdraw to your bank accountfree or a flat fee, depending on the exchange
What matters is picking an exchange that withdraws to your local bank in your currency: that's where global exchanges fail and local ones win. A global exchange will happily sell for you, but if it can't transfer to your bank you end up in P2P anyway.
Where the costs hide:
- Selling fee: you see it on the order. A limit order is usually cheaper than "sell now".
- Bank withdrawal: in the exchange's fee table. Many charge $0, others a flat amount or around 1%.
- The fee that doesn't call itself a fee: if the exchange shows you a single "all-in" price, the spread is inside it. Compare it with the market price of the pair.
Test the withdrawal before you need it
Make a small withdrawal to your bank before you're in a hurry. Finding out your exchange can't deposit to you, or that your bank rejects the transfer, hurts a lot less with $10 than with $5,000.
Path 2: P2P, where the freezes happen
→ If it already happened to you: who can stop your money and what to do
In P2P you sell directly to a person: they transfer money to your account, you release the crypto. The exchange only acts as an escrow, holding the funds.
It's popular because it sometimes gives a better price and accepts local payment methods. But the price you see already includes the counterparty's margin (the spread: the gap between what they pay you and what it's really worth), and it carries a risk almost nobody explains:
The money they transfer to you could be dirty
You don't know where the money coming to you came from. If whoever pays you got it from a scam, and the victim reports it, the bank can freeze your account while it investigates. It happens to completely honest people.
It's the main reason bank accounts get frozen over crypto in Latin America: not for holding crypto, but for receiving a transfer that's traceable to fraud.
If you're going to use P2P:
- Trade only inside the platform (Binance P2P, OKX P2P). Never off-platform, even if you're offered a better price
- Choose counterparties with many trades and a high completion rate
- Don't release the crypto until you see the money credited in your account, not a receipt
- Save screenshots of the trade: if the bank asks, you have a way to explain the source
- Avoid large amounts all at once
Path 3: crypto card
The card converts your crypto to local currency at the moment you pay, so the money never goes through your bank. You pay for that convenience twice: when you load the card (on the order of 0–2%) and when you convert the currency (on the order of 0–3%, more if you pay in a currency other than the card's). It's for spending, not for cashing out large amounts.
Which card, and the difference between the ones that hold your balance and the ones that don't: Spending crypto.
Path 4: gift cards
You swap crypto for an Amazon or Uber code, or a phone top-up. It's the only path where the "fee" can be negative: some services sell the gift card at a discount to face value, on the order of 2–5%, with no KYC for small amounts. The limit is obvious: it only works at that merchant, and a code doesn't turn back into money.
Where and how: Spending crypto.
Path 5: don't cash out
If whoever you're paying accepts crypto (a freelancer, a supplier, someone who wants it anyway), the direct transfer costs gas: cents on cheap networks. No exchange fees, no withdrawal, no bank. How to do it without picking the wrong network: Sending crypto.
What the bank is going to ask you
When money comes in from an exchange, it's normal for the bank to ask for explanations. It doesn't mean you did something wrong: it's their regulatory obligation.
Have on hand:
- Where the funds originally came from
- Proof from the exchange (buy, sell, withdrawal)
- If it was from work: the invoice or contract
Consistency
What causes the most trouble isn't the amount: it's inconsistency. Regular, explainable withdrawals generate a lot less friction than one large, isolated transfer with no history behind it.
Taxes
Selling, and in many countries spending too, is a taxable event. It depends on your country and we are not tax advisors: see Taxes.
If you came looking for something else:On-ramps by country in Latin America · Spending crypto without going through the bank · My account got frozen