A service that converts digital assets into national currency and pays the proceeds to a bank account. A crypto off-ramp can be an exchange, an OTC desk, a broker, a payment gateway or a card product, and the routes differ in how the price is formed, how much size they will take, and what identity and source-of-funds evidence they require before paying out. Every route ends the same way: the position is sold, and what reaches the bank is a fiat credit from a regulated business rather than the asset itself.
The routes, and how they differ
| Route | How the price is formed | What the holder receives |
|---|---|---|
| Exchange | Sold into a public order book at the prevailing bid; a large order fills across several levels | A withdrawal paid from the exchange’s own banking arrangements |
| OTC desk | One quoted price for the whole order, agreed bilaterally before anything moves | A payment from the desk on the agreed terms, not at whatever the book gives |
| Broker | The venue price plus the broker’s spread or fee | A payment from the broker, which stands between the holder and the venue |
| Payment gateway | Priced by the operator when a buyer pays against an invoice or order reference | Nothing — the gateway settles the seller named on the invoice, not the party who sent the assets |
| Card product | Priced per transaction at the point of sale | Spending power rather than a bank credit; built for consumption, not a position |
| P2P | Negotiated directly with the buyer | A transfer from a private individual, with no operator standing between the two legs |
What decides the amount received is whether the price is fixed before or after the assets move. A desk and a gateway quote first and the holder knows the figure before sending anything. An exchange and a P2P sale form the price during execution, so the amount that arrives is settled by the market and by the buyer.
What happens, step by step
- Onboarding. Identity verification, and evidence of how the assets were acquired.
- Quote or instruction. The operator states a price for the order, or the holder accepts the venue price.
- Transfer. The assets are sent to an address the operator controls.
- Screening. The address and its transaction history are assessed against sanctions lists and risk indicators before the conversion is accepted.
- Conversion. The operator sells the position or takes the other side of it.
- Payout. Fiat is paid to a bank account registered in the name of the verified holder.
- Record. The operator issues confirmation of the conversion: assets received, rate applied, fee charged, amount paid and account paid.
What it costs and how long it takes
Four things make up the cost: the spread between the quoted price and the reference price at that moment; the stated conversion fee; the payout or banking charge; and, on any route that prices after the assets move, whatever the price does between instruction and execution — which is not quoted and does not appear on the confirmation.
Timing is set by the checks rather than by the conversion, which is immediate once accepted. Screening runs longer on a first transaction with an operator and on assets with a long or fragmented transfer history. The payout then follows banking hours, cut-offs, correspondent routing on a cross-border payment, and the receiving bank’s own review of the incoming credit. Fee schedules and settlement times are specific to the operator and to the order, and belong in the quote.
What the operator asks for
Identity for the holder, and for an entity its ownership and control. Evidence of how the assets were acquired. Confirmation that the sending address is controlled by the holder. Bank details in the holder’s own name. Where the assets move between regulated service providers, originator and beneficiary information travels with the transfer. What comes back is the conversion confirmation — the one document a receiving bank asks to see.
What goes wrong
Assets sent before onboarding completes sit with the operator until the checks finish, and the position remains exposed to the price throughout.
A payout instructed to an account in a name other than the verified holder’s — a company account for assets verified to an individual, or the reverse — separates the party that was screened from the party that is paid, and leaves the operator unable to evidence the chain it is required to evidence.
An order split across several venues produces no single record covering the amount; the account of it has to be assembled from parts never designed to reconcile.
A P2P sale leaves nothing but the two parties’ word connecting the incoming bank transfer to the outgoing asset transfer.
The credit names the operator, not the holder
When the money lands, the payer of record is the operator. The statement shows a credit from a regulated business. It does not show which position was sold, or when, or by whom, and it does not state that the fiat leaving the operator corresponds to the assets that arrived there. On the other side, the chain shows a transfer into an address the operator controls, and stops. Two records, each complete on its own terms, and neither one saying that the other exists.
The single thing joining them is the operator’s conversion record: assets received, rate applied, amount paid, account paid. It is produced at the moment of conversion, and it cannot be rebuilt afterwards from a bank statement and a block explorer, because the link is in neither of them. A counterparty who does not obtain it at the time cannot account for the payment later — to a bank reviewing an incoming credit, to an auditor reconciling the year, or to anyone asking where a specific sum came from. Converting is the straightforward part. The record is what makes the proceeds usable.
Where converted proceeds are applied to allocated bullion, the sequence from payment through to allocation by serial number is set out on Buy Physical Gold with Crypto.