How to transfer USDC to a bank account

USD Coin, or “USDC”, is a cryptocurrency known as a stablecoin. It runs using blockchain technology just like all cryptocurrencies, but its key difference is its stable value.

USDC is pegged one to one to the US dollar, which means one coin is always worth one dollar. In many ways, it acts as a digital dollar.

If you own USDC, there might be several reasons you would want to transfer it to a bank account. You could be converting wages into fiat currency, cashing out crypto investments, or paying bills.

Now, there are many ways that you can transfer USDC to a bank account. Unfortunately, it's a little more complicated than a normal bank payment.

There are multiple ways you can do it, from using a specialist crypto exchange to innovative solutions like Acctual or even crypto debit cards. Each method has its pros and cons for transferring USDC to a bank account, with different fees and technical requirements to take into account.

So before you start the USDC cash out process, this article will give you an understanding of how to transfer USDC to USD with minimal fees and delays. You'll learn all the different methods available and step by step guides, plus how Acctual can automate everything.

Understanding USDC and bank transfers

So, if USDC is just a digital dollar, how does that make it any better than traditional money? Well, because it enjoys the benefits of decentralized blockchains.

Blockchain technology allows peer to peer payments. This means one person can send cryptocurrency direct to another person. There's no need for an intermediary like a bank or a payment processor.

All you need is a phone or a laptop, and you can send USDC direct from your crypto wallet to anyone else's crypto wallet anywhere in the world. And the best bit is that it settles in just seconds, costing a few cents.

This is why stablecoins like USDC account for huge volumes of global cross border payments. In 2024, stablecoin transaction volumes exceeded Visa and Mastercard payment volumes combined.

USDC accounts for a third of this stablecoin market, and its market cap exceeding $50 billion makes it the seventh most popular cryptocurrency, with only major players like Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDC and Solana above it.

The USDC stablecoin is compliant with most government regulations and is fully backed by US dollars in the form of cash or equivalents. That means for every one USDC that is created, there is one US dollar worth of collateral. Plus, all of these reserves are independently audited.

So if you're looking to get paid in USDC or use it to manage crypto investments, then it's a highly trustworthy asset to use to escape market volatility.

How to transfer USDC to bank account: Top methods

In this section, we'll go through the most common ways to cash out USDC. This includes centralized exchanges, P2P payments, crypto debit cards, DeFi options and the easiest way using Acctual.

Using centralized exchanges

The largest, most well known crypto companies in the world are all centralized exchanges. Names like Coinbase, Binance and Kraken dominate the industry.

These platforms have been developed to be a user friendly way for anybody to both buy and sell cryptocurrency. Even a first time crypto user can create an account, deposit funds, and buy cryptocurrency.

Or vice versa, you're able to deposit crypto, like USDC, into your exchange account, trade it for fiat currency and withdraw the fiat currency to your bank account.

It can often feel similar to using internet banking or stock trading platforms. If you have USDC in your account, you can use the quick instant trade buttons to make a currency conversion or use order book style trading for the best market rates.

You can generally trust operators like Coinbase to comply with regulations in your area. If they're unable to comply with the regulation, they won't run their service in your geographic location.

It's essential to understand the fee structure before starting, as you'll likely run into fees on every transaction you make and potential deposit and withdrawal fees with fiat currencies.

Adding to this, during high demand, there can be delays with withdrawals and anything that is flagged for suspicious activity could lead to an account freeze.

With customer support often limited in the crypto industry, many users have reported accounts being frozen for weeks or months, which can be devastating for cash flow.

Another downside of committing your funds to a centralized exchange means you lose control of your crypto. You have to trust your assets with a third party, similar to holding them in a bank account.

This makes many crypto users nervous as it leaves them open to fraud, loss of control of their private keys and ultimately, relying on major institutions.

Using peer to peer platforms

Peer to peer (P2P) trading platforms enable you to trade directly with another person. They remove the order book style trading you might find on centralized exchanges and allow you to strike a deal with another individual.

In short, this means you send them USDC, and they send fiat currency to your bank account.

Of course, you could do a deal like this directly with another party in real life, but there are special peer to peer platforms that help facilitate transactions, add protections and integrate escrow systems to reduce trust issues.

These types of trading platforms are more popular in countries with users in regions without strong banking and centralized exchange support. In fact, in less developed nations, it can be the only viable option to cash out your USDC.

The process is simple to understand. You find someone offering to buy USDC on the P2P platform, agree on a deal and deposit the USDC into an escrow account. Then the buyer transfers money to your fiat bank account before funds are released from escrow.

The advantages:

• More flexibility than centralized exchanges

• Often lower fees on transactions

• No need to deposit funds directly into an account

The downsides:

• More potential for scams

• Reduced protections in dealing with other individuals

• You might end up with a worse exchange rate, which could lead to paying 5 10% above market value

Using crypto debit cards and payment processors

A really unique way to spend your USDC like fiat currency is to use a crypto debit card. Many of the major exchanges and wallets now offer cards that work just like a Visa or MasterCard.

For example, the Coinbase and MetaMask cards will allow you to spend funds directly from your crypto account or wallet. In order to use one, you can top up your card via your wallet. Then you can start spending just like you would with a normal card in a shop, whether you're buying a coffee, dinner, or paying for gas.

This is incredibly convenient and removes the delays of having to sell your USDC for fiat money and withdraw it to a bank account.

Of course, convenience comes with a cost. You'll likely get a poor exchange rate, costing you several per cent on the market spread. Transaction fees will likely be included as well, particularly if you want to use your crypto card for ATM withdrawals.

But this can sometimes be counterbalanced with additional rewards, allowing you to earn 1% of whatever you spend back in the relevant platform's native cryptocurrency.

It's instant spending power, but more expensive.

DeFi solutions

USDC is a beneficial asset for decentralized finance (DeFi). This is a blockchain based decentralized financial system which enables all sorts of activities such as staking to blockchains, yield farming and other activities which allow you to earn interest on your crypto.

USDC is a useful stable store of value in this space, and adding to this, it works across multiple blockchains for added interoperability.

If you're using a DeFi wallet or protocol, then it can be hard to extract your USDC to a bank account. These platforms don't incorporate fiat withdrawal options. For example, if you're using a decentralized exchange (DEX), you'll only be able to trade crypto pairs and not fiat.

So there's no option to withdraw to a bank account. The only way you could make this happen is if your crypto wallet has links to a traditional finance payment processor or connect to platforms like Acctual.

Using Acctual

Acctual is the easiest way to transfer USDC to a bank account. It's purpose built for both businesses and individuals to integrate traditional and stablecoin payments.

You can connect your wallet to the Acctual platform to start making account to account transfers. This could be USDC to a fiat bank account or crypto to crypto options. You could even use it to move USDC across chains.

For added security, you will be required to link your USDC wallet with your bank account so that payments can never be sent to the wrong place.

There's no need to worry about moving between exchanges, DeFi protocols or managing multi currency accounts. Within just a few clicks, you can move USDC from your wallet to your bank account.

Plus, it has business integrations for international payments. This enables you to send an invoice, allowing your client to pay how they want, and you get paid how you prefer.

So you could invoice a client and allow them to pay in USDC. Then you receive the funds as USD into your bank account, or vice versa.

It has fast settlement times, lower fees than exchanges and is easy for non technical users who need regular USDC bank transfers.

Step by step: Centralized exchange Coinbase method

Let's go through step by step how to cash out USDC on Coinbase. 

1.  Set up

Even if you already have a crypto wallet elsewhere, you'll need to set up and verify an account. This requires email, password and phone verification, plus added security steps, including identity verification with a government issued ID.

This is required for Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti Money Laundering (AML) procedures.

During busy times, you might have to wait for verification to be approved, which can take 24 hours or more. If you don't provide the proper documentation, this can create more frustration and slow account verification procedures.

So if you want to regularly withdraw USDC, it's best to get your account set up and ready to go before trying to make payments.

2. Depositing USDC into Coinbase

If you already own USDC, you'll need to fund it into your Coinbase account. On your Coinbase account, find your USDC receiving address. This is in the form of a QR code or public key.

You should also check what chain you're using for your USDC and make sure it matches the blockchain selected on your Coinbase account.

Use the send feature in your crypto wallet to enter your public key from your receiving address in your Coinbase account. Then enter the transaction details, including amount of USDC, gas fees and confirm the transaction.

Funds might take a few minutes to appear in your Coinbase account, and you can check transaction status on the relevant blockchain.

3. Converting your USDC in Coinbase

With your Coinbase account funded in USDC, you'll need to then sell your USDC for your local fiat currency, such as US dollars or euros.

You can use the quick sell feature to make the trade instantly, although this will cost you more in the markup on the exchange rate, which could range from 2 5%. Or you can use the order book style exchange, which allows you to set a market order and wait for other traders to fill it.

4. Withdrawing to a bank account on Coinbase

Now that your account is funded with your fiat currency, you can go into your portfolio, select that currency balance and click withdraw.

This will give you a choice of options such as ACH bank transfers, withdrawal to credit card, or other payment platforms. At this point, it's essential to check the USDT fees and timeframes for different withdrawal methods.

There could be fees as high as $10 or more for certain withdrawal methods. For traditional payment methods, it can take 1 to 3 days to hit your bank account. So you need to make sure you're balancing cost against speed requirements.

Once the withdrawal process is complete, you should be able to track the status of it in your Coinbase account and within a few days, funds should hit your bank account.

The complications of making sure your wallet address is lined up, trading crypto for fiat and choosing the best withdrawal methods can be a frustrating experience for those who just want to cash out their USDC.

Step by step guide: Cashing out USDC with a MetaMask card

If you don't want to bother with centralized exchanges, order book trading and withdrawal methods, then Web3 wallets like MetaMask now have debit card integration.

Let's go through the process of setting up a MetaMask wallet and using your card to start spending your USDC like normal money.

Step 1: Setting up the MetaMask wallet

MetaMask is free to install. You can find the MetaMask Chrome extension or mobile app in your relevant app store (Chrome, iOS Android Play).

Upon downloading the wallet, you will need to create a new wallet or import an existing one. At this stage, make sure to securely record and store your 12 word seed phrase and set up a strong password.

Make sure you write down your seed phrase clearly and use the onboarding flow to double check you have it correct.

Security note: If you ever lose this seed phrase, it means you won't be able to access your funds should you get locked out or lose your wallet. Should anyone else find your seed phrase, they could then access your crypto funds.

Step 2: Funding your MetaMask wallet

If you have USDC in an exchange account or you are waiting for payment, you can receive USDC into your MetaMask wallet. Use the receive function and provide the QR code or receiving address to the payee.

With this address, you can send funds direct to the wallet in a matter of minutes. Make sure to include the correct chain, such as Ethereum or Solana, as sending funds to the wrong chain could lead to irreversible transactions or lost crypto.

Step 3: Applying for the MetaMask card

You can set up a MetaMask card in minutes and start spending USDC. It will work just like a MasterCard.

In the process, you'll be required to create a MetaMask card account and go through KYC verification steps. Once accepted, you can wait for a card to arrive or use it immediately via Apple Pay or Google Pay connections. It allows you to spend your USDC directly from your Web3 wallet.

If you’re wondering how to turn USDC into cash, then you can also use crypto cards at ATMs!

Transaction fees can add up with fees for converting tokens to fiat, blockchain gas fees and a swap fee of 0.875%. However, there is no maintenance fee for the card.

One handy thing about the MetaMask card is that each USDC spend earns up to 1% in cashback.

To give you an example of how that might break down: if you were to spend $420 USD, MetaMask card would charge you $3 5 on that transaction in total, so it would cost more like $424 USD.

So… convenient, but an expensive way to run your finances.

Understanding fees and timeframes

With so many different currency transfers and transactions along the way to get USDC from your crypto wallet into your bank account, the fees can mount up. Every platform you use, every blockchain you negotiate, and every bank you encounter will add costs along the way.

Exchange withdrawal fees

Exchange withdrawal fees can range aggressively from free to $15 or more for wire transfers. So you really need to understand if it's worth it, particularly for your transaction size.

If you're doing a small withdrawal but paying a $15 fee, then it might not be worth it. Conversely, for large transfers, that might be an acceptable fee compared to platforms that charge a flat percentage.

Network or blockchain gas fees

Gas fees will apply when sending your USDC from wallets to exchange accounts and vice versa. These gas fees are the transaction fees that the blockchain charges for processing your transaction.

As USDC runs on multiple chains, such as Ethereum, Solana, or Polygon, the transaction fees will vary depending on the chain.

On Ethereum, costs can jump above a dollar, even higher during particularly high periods of congestion. Solana and Polygon both try to offer cheaper fees, where gas fees can be less than 0.01 of a cent.

So choosing the right network or calculating the required gas fees into your transfers can help reduce the shock of your funds being whittled away.

Bank processing fees

Incoming wire transfers can range from $15 to $50 at many banks, which might catch you by surprise once funds reach your account.

Adding to this, international transfer fees could hurt you if you're withdrawing fiat from an exchange in one currency but depositing it in a bank account in a foreign currency. You'll likely be hit with 1 3% currency conversion fees plus international transaction fees at most banks.

Currency conversion fees

If you're switching USDC for fiat currency on an exchange or crypto card, then there could be an exchange spread of 1% or more, plus hidden extra costs along the way.

To minimize fees across these four areas:

• Batch transfers to reduce any fixed fees

• Use platforms and payment methods with the most cost effective options

• Consider using USDC on the cheapest networks (for example, Solana USDC rather than Ethereum)

For example, Acctual just charges a 1% fee for payments, so you can send USDC to a bank account for 1% with no hidden costs.

Get the planning right and it can reduce fees by 50% or more.

Typical timeframes

So, how long will it take you to transfer your USDC to your bank account? Again, this is directly related to your chosen method.

Using a centralized exchange: Particularly if you don't have an account yet, can take days. You need to spend time verifying your account, transferring funds to the exchange, making trades and then processing a withdrawal.

You might not even get verified for a few days, and then you have to go through all the different steps to make your transfer.

Crypto debit cards: They can seem more convenient, allowing instant spending, but the money won't actually be in your bank account, and the convenience comes at a cost.

Blockchain confirmations: Happily, crypto transactions tend to settle in minutes rather than days – a big step up from traditional finance. As long as you get your gas fees right, you should find blockchain transactions complete in 10 minutes or less.

Bank settlement methods: These can vary depending on your location and banking restrictions. ACH transfers might take 1 to 5 business days. Similarly, SEPA transactions and wire transfers can take a couple of days to complete.

So if you need to move funds fast, then some methods are better than others.

Delaying factors

If you don't have a well verified crypto account, then you might run into verification holds. This means either you've provided the wrong paperwork, or you have suspicious activity on your account.

In developed nations like the UK and the US, crypto exchanges are held to the same regulations as traditional financial institutions. This means they need to confirm the identity of those involved in the payments and the source of funds.

If any of this is suspicious, it might trigger reviews or have your account frozen.

Adding to this, if you're transferring fiat funds, then you might experience delays due to weekends and public holidays in your country. So it's best to initiate transfers earlier in the week to make sure you're included in payment batches.

Compliance and security considerations

When it comes to crypto finance, security is the number one concern. In addition, governments are scrutinizing crypto transactions more than ever. This means you need to understand the compliance and reporting requirements for both yourself and the platforms you're dealing with.

KYC and AML compliance

As mentioned, AML and KYC compliance will be expected anytime you're dealing with fiat currency. You might not have to do KYC with decentralized exchanges, but you'll be restricted to crypto to crypto trades and unable to withdraw your USDC to a bank account.

Centralized exchanges will need to verify customer identities and bank accounts linked to your trades. This is non negotiable.

If you want to escape KYC methods, then it adds a high amount of risk of dealing with unverified entities in less developed nations.

Reporting requirements

General regulation will also require exchanges to report transactions to local tax authorities and any payments over $10,000 will automatically be triggered for review.

So if you're trying to transfer large amounts of money, you might consider breaking it down into smaller chunks over time to reduce the threat of reporting thresholds.

Geographical restrictions

Most reputable platforms will adhere to restriction lists like OFAC that reject financial dealings with high risk countries and sanctioned areas. Plus, you should also verify that the crypto provider operates in your location.

Even in developed nations like the US, certain states and platforms have restrictions due to localized regulation.

Security best practices

You should make sure your funds are stored in a reputable wallet with backup seed phrases well documented offline. When transferring money to exchanges, make sure to double check website URLs before logging in and making payments.

Don't ever click unsolicited links in emails, messages, or adverts. Instead, always navigate to the specific exchange URL. Adding to this, avoid making transactions on public Wi Fi as it can compromise your accounts.

On your exchange account, ensure you've got two factor authentication to enhance security. You can also set up withdrawal address whitelisting and account locks that require two factor authentication to confirm payments.

This will stop people from accessing your crypto with just a username and password.

Before you make any payments:

• Triple check all crypto wallet addresses

• Verify the blockchain being used

• Confirm bank account numbers

• If you're unsure, try a small test first before using large amounts

• For bank transfers, make sure to confirm account numbers in multiple ways

Transaction limits

We already mentioned the $10,000 limit for transaction reviews, but it is possible to withdraw much more than this on most exchange and payment platforms.

For example:

• Coinbase can allow $25,000, sometimes more, for fully verified accounts

• Binance and Kraken can reach $100,000 or more, depending on your verification level

So if you have transactions that exceed the limit, you'll need to split them over days and months. This could be an important factor in the platform you choose, depending on your payment sizes.

Withdraw USDC to your bank account with Acctual

Acctual removes the stress out of USDC cash outs. Get rid of confusing exchanges, the stress of trusting a P2P vendor, or costly crypto debit cards.

The simple USDC payment platform connects your crypto with traditional bank accounts. You can avoid the slog of cashing out your USDC and use Acctual to do it in the click of a button.

You can even link your wallet address to a dedicated bank account and send your USDC for a fee of just 1%.

Acctual works like magic behind the scenes to take care of the rest.

If you're using USDC for business, then you can integrate invoicing into your payments. Create a crypto invoice that allows your client to pay you in USDC, and that USDC can be paid straight into your fiat bank account.

Or vice versa, your client could pay in US dollars or euros, and you receive USDC into your crypto wallet.

In addition, everything is integrated with your accounting system, whether you're working in fiat payments or crypto payments. So you're ready for tax reporting when the time comes.

There's no easier way to cash out USDC! You can get started right in 2 minutes with a free account.