Fund your wallet

Your new wallet is empty. There are three common ways to fill it.

1. From an exchange

The simplest route: buy SOL or USDC on an exchange you already use, then withdraw to your wallet.

1. In your wallet, copy your Solana address (it's a long string of letters and numbers).
2. On the exchange, choose Withdraw, pick the asset and choose Solana as the network.
3. Paste your address and send a small test amount.
4. Once it arrives, send the rest.

2. From another chain

Already hold crypto on Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum or Bitcoin? A cross-chain swap takes your tokens on one chain and delivers different tokens on Solana in one step, in seconds to minutes.

• deBridgeFast cross-chain swaps
• MayanCross-chain swaps to and from Solana
• RelayInstant bridging across many chains
• PortalWormhole's token bridge

USDC is special: Circle's CCTP burns USDC on one chain and mints native USDC on the other, so there's no wrapped version to worry about. Most bridges use it under the hood when you move USDC.

Bridges are some of the most attacked contracts in crypto, so stick to established ones and don't leave funds sitting inside them.

3. Buy inside your wallet

Phantom, Solflare and Backpack let you buy with a card or bank transfer through a payment partner. It's convenient but usually more expensive than an exchange, and availability depends on your country.

Keep a SOL buffer

Even if you only want stablecoins, keep about 0.05 SOL in the wallet. It covers fees for hundreds of transactions and the small rent deposits each new token needs (more on that in the next lesson).

Moving money back out

To cash out, reverse the process: send SOL or USDC from your wallet to your exchange deposit address, again on the Solana network, again with a small test first. Exchanges sometimes need a memo or tag for deposits; if they show one, include it.