How to Check a Crypto Exchange Before Signing Up

Why check the venue before the first deposit

People pick an exchange from an ad, a chat referral, or a low fee—and mix two risks. First: the venue was built to take deposits and disappear, or to block withdrawals until you pay extra. Second: it is a real centralized exchange that must apply AML / KYC / Source of Funds pauses. The checklist below reduces both; it does not cancel the second. A major exchange can still request documents after a deposit even if you “did everything right.”

A check before registration does not replace wallet hygiene and does not mean withdrawals will always go through. It filters an obvious fake before a large transfer. If someone already steered you in a chat to an “exchange like Binance,” read crypto exchange scams and do not open an account through someone else’s link.

Checklist: domain, licence, withdrawal, support

1. Type the domain yourself, save it, and check the certificate and spelling: one character or a look-alike letter is a typical clone.
2. Find the legal entity, registration number, and jurisdiction; match them in the official register of the country the site cites.
3. Look up the licence in the named regulator’s register, not on a “licensed” banner. A regulator warning is a stop, not “everyone says that.”
4. Read the public AML terms: what triggers a review and which documents they expect—not a promised timeline, but a coherent text.
5. Before a large amount, run a cycle: small deposit, then small withdrawal. The fee is taken from the balance when the order is processed; a separate transfer to “unlock” funds is not required.
6. Support should be a ticket or official email on the same domain. Telegram-only contact with no legal entity and no ticket is a warning sign.

Also compare claimed volumes with an independent aggregator and look for repeated withdrawal complaints on third-party sites, not on the exchange’s own page. “Too good” yield, a steadily rising balance, and a referral programme that pays like a salary sit closer to a scheme than to a spot market. Anonymized reviews without promises are in case studies.

Fake extra-payment trap vs an AML pause at a real exchange

The critical test is what blocks the withdrawal. A scheme almost always asks for a new transfer to an outside address—a “tax,” “fee,” or “liquidity payment.” A legitimate exchange asks for a passport, selfie, or SoF in an official ticket and does not ask for crypto “so the system can open.” Access is through a domain you keep yourself, not a message from a “manager.”

If a withdrawal is categorically impossible without another payment, this is a scheme; see fake exchanges and withdrawal fees. If you are already in an official account at a major platform and see a review status with no external payment demand, do not “fix” it by sending funds to search-result specialists. Typical reasons for genuine restrictions are in the top reasons accounts are frozen.

What not to do after the “check”

• Do not register through a messenger link, even if it is “easier for KYC.”
• Do not treat a test withdrawal as proof that a large withdrawal will pass without SoF.
• Do not treat reviews on the venue’s own site as an independent source.
• Do not enter a seed phrase to “verify the wallet with the exchange”—that is not how exchanges work.

If you skipped the check and the deposit is already inside: for a fake, stop extra payments and preserve TxIDs; for a live ticket at a known exchange, send one coherent document package. The second path is exchange account unfreezing, with no promised timeline or outcome.