How To Move Cardano ADA From An Exchange To A Wallet

How To Move Cardano ADA From An Exchange To A Wallet

This article will walk you through moving your crypto off your chosen exchange and into your secure crypto wallet. Regardless of which exchange or wallet you choose to use, the process should look relatively similar. 

Watch this video right here if you’re not that into reading ????

You’ve bought your ADA, but what’s next?

Most of us buy our crypto from well known exchanges like as crypto.com, coinbase or binance because they’re regarded as safe and reliable. However, once you’ve taken the plunge and decided to invest, keeping your crypto on the exchange is not the best idea unless you’re actively trading. This is mainly for security reasons.

If you want to learn a little more about why you shouldn’t leave your crypto on an exchange long term you can watch Luke’s Upstream debut where he explains why your crypto is not 100% secure if left on an exchange.

It’s also worthwhile noting that although moving your crypto can be a daunting step the first time you do it, or even the first few times, it is actually really straightforward.

the differences between Cardano specific and universal wallets

Now depending on whether or not the wallet you store your ADA in is a Cardano specific wallet or a universal wallet will impact whether or not you need to add ADA as a recognised token inside that wallet.

At Upstream we use Yoroi wallet, which is ADA specific so there’s no need for this step. We will also be using Yoroi to demonstrate this walkthrough. We will also assume you already have a Yoroi wallet set up. If you haven’t you can watch this video to learn how to do it.

For the purposes of demonstrating how to add a token to a universal wallet I will be using Trust wallet which is a very user friendly wallet that supports 100’s of different tokens but this step will look very similar no matter which universal wallet you use.

Upstream ultimately recommend using a Cardano specific wallet as these wallets are designed and built with the purpose of helping the Cardano network operate, by giving you the ability to stake your ADA with an SPO (stake pool operator), such as Upstream. This staking feature is critical to the function of a proof-of-stake network.

See our article on proof-of work vs. Proof of stake blockchains for a more in depth breakdown of how this works.

Activating cardano on a universal wallet

To start, on your main wallet page there will be an option to add a new token.Select this and then search either ‘ada’ or ‘Cardano’ in the search field.

You will then see an option to add the token. As Cardano is one of the largest blockchains both by community and by market cap, it shouldn’t be necessary to add it as a custom token like you would have to do with smaller, less well known blockchains.

Cardano or Ada will likely be top of your search results list and there will be a button that you have to tap to enable this token on your wallet. Tap it, and bish-bash-bosh your wallet is now able to receive and store Ada.

Moving your ada to yoroi wallet

As I mentioned earlier, we will be using Yoroi wallet for the rest of this walkthrough to show how you can simply and easily transfer your Ada into your wallet, and start supporting the Cardano network and receiving more Ada for doing so.

Find and copy your receive address

In your main wallet there is an option to both send and receive Ada from your wallet. When we select receive it will give you a long line consisting of a seemingly random sequence of numbers and letters.

This is the address for receiving your Ada. Don’t worry, you don’t need to remember this. There should be a button visible you can select to copy this address so we can use it later. 

Withdraw ada from your exchange account

Now login into the exchange where your Ada is held. Select Ada or Cardano in your wallet and you will see a number of options. One of those options will say send/withdraw.

Here you will have the option to paste the address we previously copied from our Ada wallet. There will be a small fee for transferring the Ada from one wallet to another, normally no more than 1 Ada.

Watchouts

At this point there are a couple of things you need to be aware of. The first is the transaction fee. The second, and most important, is to make sure you verify the address you have just copied before you send your ADA. If for some reason the address is incorrect and you hit send, bye bye Ada. That Ada will not arrive in your wallet and is difficult, if not impossible to get it back. We have learnt this from experience!

Wait for your ADA to hit your wallet

From here, just sit back and wait a short while for the Ada to hit your wallet. The first few times you do this it can be quite nerve wracking and feel like an eternity before you see your ADA in your wallet. But, the Cardano network is very reliable and secure, so as long as you’ve entered the right address you won’ t have any issues.

Delegate your ADA and earn up to 5% APY

Once you’ve got your ADA in a Cardano wallet, you should really delegate it to your chosen stake pool, which will obviously be Upstream????. Every time your stake pool produces a block you’ll automatically earn more Ada and you’ll also be doing your bit to help the Cardano network flourish.

And that’s it folks. Remember to subscribe to our youtube channel and follow us on Twitter @Upstream_ada to stay up to date on everything Upstream.