A Binance sign-up walkthrough: from the referral code to the withdrawal network, step by step

Who this guide is for, and who it is not

In one line: if you just want to understand what opening an account, verifying your identity and sending a transfer actually involve, and to do it once for a few dollars, this guide is for you.

It suits people who have never touched an exchange, who have been put off by a wall of jargon, and who want a checklist that skips nothing. It also suits people already registered but stuck on identity verification, or facing a first withdrawal with no idea which network to pick; jump straight to the relevant section.

It is not for anyone hunting a way to get rich quickly or a sure thing. Those do not exist, and this page will not pretend otherwise. If your region bans or restricts these platforms, follow the local rules, and do not act against them because of an article. Crypto swings hard in price, so put in only money you can afford to lose, every single time. That is not a throwaway line; it is the one thing a beginner most needs to remember.

Step one: open an account, and where the referral code goes

Straight to the point: registering means entering an email or phone number, setting a strong password, turning on two-factor authentication, and typing the referral code into the Referral ID field on the sign-up page, which usually opens once you have filled in your account details.

An account works like a currency window between ordinary money and the on-chain world. When you pick a platform, only two things really matter: a large user base, and proper compliance and security in place. Do not chase a slightly lower fee on some obscure venue you have never heard of; that is the classic beginner trap. A large exchange with a long track record and transparent withdrawals is far less likely to go wrong.

Which field the referral code goes in

This is where many people stall. The first screen of the sign-up page often only asks for an email or phone number, and the referral field sits lower down, or opens only after you tap "enter referral code". Its label is usually Referral ID or Referral Code. Type the code in, and this part is done.

If you arrived through an invite link carrying a ref parameter, that field is normally filled in for you, so just confirm it shows the code you want. The code used on this site is BN8812, and you can copy it with one tap from the card below.

I forgot the code. Can I add it after signing up?

Short answer: usually not. A referral code is normally bound at the moment of registration, and there is no public way to add it once the account exists. So the safe move is to copy the code first and confirm it appears in the referral field before you submit. Entering a code costs you nothing and may bring a fee rebate; forgetting it is a pure loss.

How to pass KYC, and what to do when it fails

Here is the answer first: KYC means uploading an ID, taking a face scan for a liveness check, and matching the details you typed against the document. Almost every failure comes down to three things: a blurry photo, mismatched details, or a poor environment for the face scan.

Every legitimate platform requires verified identity; it is a hard rule and part of protecting your account. What you need is simple: one valid ID (a national ID card or passport), a phone that takes photos, and a spot with even light. The whole thing usually takes a few minutes to submit, and the result is sometimes instant and sometimes takes a while.

Common reasons verification fails

This is the step beginners get stuck on most, and the one they most want an answer for. Ordered roughly by how often each happens:

• Blurry or glare-covered ID photo. A photo of a photo, a shot through a plastic sleeve, or a light shining straight onto the card all leave the system unable to read it. Fix: take out the original document, shoot in even light with all four corners in frame, and avoid glare.
• Details that do not match the ID. A space in the name, the order of day, month and year in a birth date, the case of a spelling; any mismatch with the document can bounce it. Check character by character and make it exactly match the ID.
• Expired or unsupported document. An expired ID is never accepted. If a local document keeps failing, a passport is often more reliable, because its layout is standard worldwide and machines read it with a higher success rate.
• Face scan (liveness check) failure. Dim light, glasses, a mask, backlight, or moving too fast all cause failures. Find a bright spot, face the camera squarely, keep your full face visible, and follow the prompts to turn your head or blink slowly.
• Repeated submissions in a short window. Several failures in a row can trigger a temporary limit. Waiting a while, fixing the points above, then trying once beats hammering the submit button.

If you have worked through all of these and still cannot pass, appeal through official support. A pointed warning: stay away from anyone offering to "pass verification for a fee" or asking to "borrow your identity". Handing your documents to a stranger can drag you into someone else's illegal activity, and it is never worth it.

Step two: swap a little into stablecoin

Answer first: once you are verified, move a few dollars into a stablecoin, and you can feel value flowing on-chain without riding the swings of a volatile coin.

A stablecoin is a token pinned to a currency like the US dollar, so its price barely moves; common ones are USDT and USDC. It is the calmest way for a beginner to walk the flow, because your attention can sit on "how do I send and confirm this" rather than on a price ticking up and down.

There are usually two routes to get one: buy it directly on the spot market with funds you have deposited, or buy it C2C (peer to peer) from another user, with the platform escrowing the trade. Use whichever is easier. Before you swap, note two things: the minimum (each trading pair has a smallest order size, and too tiny an amount will not go through) and the fee (spot trades take a very small percentage). Keep the amount as small as you like; a few dollars is plenty.

This is the step where it clicks for the first time: money stops being a number locked inside a platform and becomes something that can move on a public network.

Withdrawals and transfers: which network to actually pick

The most useful line first: to send USDT cheaply and fast, TRC20 is the common pick; use ERC20 only when you need to deal with the Ethereum ecosystem; use BEP20 for moving around inside Binance. The sending and receiving ends must use the same network, or the funds may be unrecoverable.

This is the point most likely to go wrong at withdrawal, and the one worth understanding first. The same USDT can run on different blockchains, the way one person can take different roads. The "network" you choose when withdrawing is which road it takes. Here are the three most common roads side by side:

The fees and speeds above are relative ranges and shift in real time with congestion. For the real numbers, rely on what the exchange's withdrawal page shows at the moment you act; it spells out the network fee and the amount that will actually arrive. This information was checked in July 2026 and is for directional guidance only.

Why insist that both ends match? Because the receiver, a wallet or another exchange, only recognises the asset on the chain it supports. Send from TRC20 while the other side expects ERC20, and the money lands somewhere that does not line up, and in most cases you cannot recover it yourself. So for every withdrawal: first confirm the network the receiving address supports, then return to the withdrawal page and pick the same one, then check everything before you submit.

A common beginner myth is that the pricier network must be the better one. The opposite is closer to the truth: fees mostly track how busy and how a chain prices its space, with no direct link to safety. For a small transfer, a low-fee network cuts the cost sharply, and there is no sense paying a steep network fee to move a few dollars.

Step three: make one on-chain transfer

Answer: send that little bit of stablecoin from one address to another address or wallet you control, watch it confirm on-chain until it arrives, and you have walked the whole path.

The action itself is not complex: on the withdrawal page, paste the receiving address, pick the network, enter the amount, confirm. But two rules are non-negotiable.

First, check the address character by character. An on-chain transfer cannot be reversed, and one wrong character sends the money to someone else with no way back. The safe way is to copy and paste, then check the first and last few characters against the receiving end; never type it by hand. Some malware rewrites the address on your clipboard, and this check after pasting can save you.

Second, pick a low-fee network and confirm both ends match. The network choice from earlier comes to ground here. For a first transfer, strongly consider sending a tiny amount first, confirm the other side received it and that address and network are right, then send the rest. One extra network fee for peace of mind is well worth it.

The moment it lands, the words you read earlier, ledger, confirmation, tamper-proof, stop being concepts and become something you have actually done.

How to buy your first bit of spot

One line: open the spot page, pick a trading pair, enter an amount, use a market order to fill immediately, and you have bought it.

If you want to go beyond stablecoins and buy an asset, the flow is just as simple. On the spot market, find the pair you want (say a coin against USDT); a "market order" fills at the current price straight away, while a "limit order" sets a price you name and waits for the market to reach it. As a beginner, use a market order with a tiny amount to feel how placing and filling an order works.

Once more: this step is only to understand what placing an order is. What to buy and how much, this article recommends nothing, so use only money you can afford to lose and brace for sharp price swings.

Frequently asked questions

How do I enter a Binance referral code, and where does it go?

On the sign-up page, type the code into the field labelled Referral ID or Referral Code, which usually appears after you fill in your email or phone number. If you arrived through an invite link with a ref parameter, that field is normally filled in for you, so just confirm it shows the code you want. The code used on this site is BN8812.

I forgot to enter the referral code. Can I add it after signing up?

Usually not. A referral code is normally bound at the moment of registration, and there is no public way to add it once the account exists. If fee rebates matter to you, the safe move is to copy the code first and confirm it appears in the referral field before you submit the sign-up form.

My Binance KYC verification failed. What should I do?

The most common causes are a blurry or glare-covered ID photo, a name or date of birth that does not match the document, an expired ID, or a face scan taken in poor light or with glasses and a mask on. Work through them: re-shoot the original document in even light, edit the name and date of birth to match the ID exactly, and redo the liveness check with your full face visible. A passport, having a standard global layout, often passes more reliably than some local IDs. After repeated failures, contact official support, and never trust anyone who offers to pass verification for you.

Which network should I choose to withdraw USDT? What is the difference between TRC20, ERC20 and BEP20?

These are the same USDT running on different chains. ERC20 lives on Ethereum and is the most widely compatible but usually has the highest fee. TRC20 lives on Tron, with a low fee and fast arrival, and is a common low-cost choice for sending USDT. BEP20 lives on BNB Smart Chain, also low-fee and handy inside the Binance ecosystem. The key rule: the sending and receiving ends must use the same network, or the funds may not arrive and may be unrecoverable. Check the actual fee on the exchange's withdrawal page at the time.

How long does an on-chain transfer take, and can I recover funds sent to the wrong address?

Arrival time depends on how busy the network is; a low-fee network usually confirms within a few minutes. Once a transfer is on-chain it cannot be reversed, and a wrong address or a mismatched network cannot be undone, so check the receiving address character by character and confirm both ends use the same network before you submit. For a first transfer, send a tiny test amount first.

How do I read the fees, and will a lot be taken?

You will meet two kinds of fee: a trading fee (a very small percentage of the trade value when you buy or sell on spot) and a withdrawal network fee (charged per the network you choose when moving coins off the exchange, largely independent of the amount). Before withdrawing, the page shows this network fee and the amount that will actually arrive, so read it before you confirm. Choosing a low-fee network noticeably cuts the cost of small transfers.

Fang Yu · Editor of FutureLens

Former technology reporter. This checklist only helps you walk the idea through once. Keep safety, and money you can afford to lose, first at every step.