All crypto exchange account guides, grouped by problem
Every Cobalt Desk guide in four groups: opening an account, verifying it, changing something on it, and closing or recovering it. Each answers a single problem.
22 guides
Opening an account
Signing up for the first time: what each screen asks, where the referral field appears, and what cannot be changed later.
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Opening an account
How to Create a Binance Account, Step by Step
On the Binance sign-up page you enter an email or phone number and press Register, agree to the terms, enter the 6-digit code, set a password and confirm the referral code. That last screen is the only permanent one, and the easiest to skip past.
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Opening an account
Before You Open a Crypto Exchange Account
An eligible residence, an ID that matches it, a camera, an email you will keep and a second factor are what to have ready. The login, the account type, the referral code and the declared country are what to decide before the first screen, because each is hard or impossible to change later.
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Opening an account
Email or Phone for a Crypto Exchange Account?
Both work, and you can add the other afterwards. Email survives a new carrier, a lost SIM and a trip abroad; SMS does not reach every country. Register with an email you will keep, then add the phone.
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Opening an account
Can You Have Two Crypto Exchange Accounts?
One person, one verified personal account on Binance, which says so directly and limits regular users to five sub-accounts under it; Kraken permits a second account but will not let it stack limits. A second account verified with the same ID is treated as a duplicate, and an account verified with someone else's document is in their name, not yours.
Verification and login codes
Identity checks and the codes that never arrive: what the review looks for, how long it takes, and what to do when it fails.
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Verification and login codes
How Long Does Binance Verification Take?
48 hours is the official figure: Binance says submitted documents are 'usually reviewed within 48 hours', and that some cases take longer. A review that asks for more, such as proof of address or a source-of-funds declaration, has no published time limit. Inside 48 hours with nothing requested, wait and do not resubmit; when more is asked for, send exactly that through the link in the notice.
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Verification and login codes
Binance ID Rejected or KYC Failed: What to Fix
Each rejection message points to one thing to change. A photo problem means retaking the document photo; a failed face check, redoing it in different light or on another device; a details mismatch, matching every confirmed character to the document; an unaccepted document, switching to a type offered for your country. An identity already on another account, or a region rule, is not fixed by resubmitting; for those, or a refusal that looks wrong, there is an appeal.
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Verification and login codes
Crypto Exchange Verification Code Not Received
If the screen asks for an authenticator or a passkey, no code is coming at all. For an email code, check the registered address, spam, filters and a full inbox; for SMS, the coverage list, signal, blocker apps and voice verification. Reset the method only when those fail, because a reset pauses withdrawals.
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Verification and login codes
Binance Passkey Not Working on a New Phone
Press Cancel on the passkey prompt and choose My Passkeys Are Not Available. The reset that follows asks for your other verification methods, then holds withdrawals for up to 48 hours. If you turned on Must verify using passkey, the reset is the only way back, so turn it off before you change phones.
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Verification and login codes
Binance Proof of Address Rejected: What Passes
A proof of address is refused for one of five reasons: a document type that is not on the list, a date outside the validity window, an address that does not match what you typed, a name that does not match your ID, or a scan that is cropped, black and white or photocopied.
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Verification and login codes
Binance PAN Card Verification Failed in India
When a Binance KYC check fails in India, compare every detail you confirmed with your ID document, check the face-scan rules (face uncovered, enough light), and appeal through Self-Service if the decision still looks wrong. The PAN request comes from Binance's 2025 notice that users in India, new and existing, must re-verify by following the steps in an email it may have sent. A pop-up about the sender when crypto arrives is a separate Travel Rule check.
Changes to an existing account
An account you already use: adding or changing a referral, email, phone, identity document, or country of residence.
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Changes to an existing account
Add a Binance Referral Code After Registration
Does the account already have a referrer? Then it cannot be changed or removed. Never had one? Then official routes remain, each with conditions: bind within 30 days, self-rebind if it has never traded, be recalled after 90 inactive days, or apply to rebind. Closing the account to start over is refused by the rules.
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Changes to an existing account
Change Your Binance Email or Phone Number
With the old contact still working, the change runs Account, Security, Manage, Edit, verify, new contact; without it, the 2FA reset path replaces it. Either way withdrawals, internal transfers and P2P stop afterwards, for up to 24 hours after an email change and up to 48 hours after a phone change or a reset, so do it before you need to move money.
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Changes to an existing account
Update Binance KYC: Name Change or Expired ID
An expired document, or a name, ID number or nationality that has changed, lets you update a verified identity on Binance; three further listed reasons cover a fiat channel's requirements, a switch to a system-recognisable language and Binance Card. Start from Update Identity on the Identification page. The account stays in Withdrawal Only until the new documents are verified, and another person's identity can never be swapped in.
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Changes to an existing account
Change Country on a Crypto Exchange Account
Update the residence through the identification settings with a proof of address in your name. Expect a short review, possibly a new verification, and possibly a different set of products. If the new country is one the exchange does not serve, the account is restricted in the way the exchange's notice says, and no address trick changes that.
Lockouts, restrictions and closing
Locked out, forgotten logins, closing an account, and whether the same ID can open another one.
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Lockouts, restrictions and closing
Binance Withdrawal Suspended or Restricted
A countdown means a security hold that no one can lift early. An Unlock pop-up is self-service. An Appeal button is a document path. A request for source-of-funds documents is a compliance review with no published limit. A deactivation notice means withdraw everything by the date given.
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Lockouts, restrictions and closing
Binance Asks for Source of Funds: What to Send
The official list names one or two documents for each source of money: for a salary, a payslip or a bank statement showing the salary, dated within the last 3 months, or the most recent tax statement; for savings, a bank statement within 3 months showing the balance. Every document must show your full name. A private loan and a crypto sale each need two documents at once.
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Lockouts, restrictions and closing
Locked Out of Binance: Lost 2FA or Email
Lost 2FA with a known login goes through the reset page. Lost 2FA and password goes through support with your ID. A forgotten email or phone goes through the Forgot Account appeal with an ID photo and a short video. None of the routes needs anyone outside the exchange.
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Lockouts, restrictions and closing
How to Close a Binance Account: Checklist
The Close Account button sits under Account, Security, Manage Account, and it works only once your history is downloaded and every account type is empty. Closing cannot be undone: a new account's verification may wait 30 days or more, and a new referral relationship earns nothing. Suspicious activity calls for Disable Account instead.
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Lockouts, restrictions and closing
Re-Register on a Crypto Exchange After Closing
30 days on Bitget, and '30 days or longer' on Binance, is the wait before the same identity can verify a new account; Bybit blocks the same identity, email and number with no end date. The email and phone are often locked too, and a new account starts with fewer privileges than the old one.
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Lockouts, restrictions and closing
When a Crypto Exchange Account Holder Dies
The person appointed to handle the estate files a claim with the exchange, attaching the death certificate, the court papers that name them, their own identity document and a letter saying where the assets should go. Binance, Kraken, Coinbase and Bitget all publish this route; Kraken and Coinbase say in writing that there is no beneficiary option, and Binance and Bitget describe only the claim after the death. Nobody has to know the password, and the family should not log in.
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Lockouts, restrictions and closing
Export Crypto Trade History Before Closing
An export only works while you can still log in; once an account is closed, or a deactivation notice has taken effect, there is no login to generate a statement from. Kraken says in writing that support cannot run exports for you, and Binance's deactivation page directs anyone who can no longer log in to Customer Service without saying whether a file can be provided. The export lives in a different place on each exchange; Binance and Bitget cap the number per month and expire the link after 7 days, Kraken publishes a processing time instead, and Coinbase neither.
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Lockouts, restrictions and closing
Crypto Exchange Closed Your Account: What Now?
Find the date in the notice, then withdraw. When an exchange closes an account on its own initiative, what keeps working is the way out, and it differs: a crypto withdrawal on Binance, a fiat withdrawal after converting on Kraken, a cash withdrawal or a crypto send on Coinbase. Trading and deposits stop, the reason is usually not shared, and where an appeal exists it is a second review rather than a negotiation.