Lesson 3 — From Exchange to Chain — How to Move Funds Without Losing Them

The custodial on-ramp — a ferry, not a home

Ava draws two shores in your notebook:
on the left, your bank;
on the right, your key;
in the middle, a short strip of water with a ferry crossing it.

“We board,” she says. “We cross. We step off. Comfort and policies belong here. Autonomy begins over there.”

You nod. In Lesson 6 you chose a door you can read. Now you’ll bring a small amount across the water—slow enough to see, small enough that your nerves stay steady.

Boarding the ferry

The ferry is a custodial exchange: Binance, Kraken, Coinbase. Someone else holds the key; you borrow their rails to move money from the old system into the new. That means rules, waiting, business hours—and also a smoother first step.

You open your Official sign-up (Ava’s safe path) bookmark—no search, no ads. The page is plain. Good. Plain is how safe doors look.

Ava talks you through setup without raising her voice: a long random password saved in your manager; app-based 2FA (not SMS); an anti-phishing code so real emails show a phrase only you know; a withdrawal allowlist with your wallet address and a 24–48h activation lock. A tiny banner appears: “24–48 hours.”
Your thumb pauses over the mouse. The timer feels like a metronome on the desk.
“That clock is part of your posture,” Ava says. “We don’t outrun it; we plan around it.”

Buying your cargo

You don’t fill the ferry with gold bars. You carry coffee money.
Ava’s rule: €20–€50. Enough to feel it. Too little to bargain with yourself.

On the buy screen she taps ETH on Ethereum Mainnet.
“You’ll need ETH for tolls. It’s also clean starter cargo. If you want to test swaps later, add a small slice of USDC—on ERC-20—but not instead of ETH.”

She underlines a line you’ll keep forever:

Token + Network must match.
(USDC ERC-20 goes to Ethereum. Not TRC-20. Not “whatever was cheapest.”)

The first crossing: test, then move

Your wallet is ready. Time to board. Ava slows you down.

1. Copy your address directly from your wallet UI (Rabby/MetaMask/Trust). Paste it into the exchange withdrawal form.
2. Read the first six and last six characters out loud.
3. Choose Ethereum (ERC-20) as the network. A cheaper chain blinks in the dropdown; Ava points at it. “Say it,” she insists. You do: “E-R-C-20.”
4. Send a tiny test (€5–€10). The exchange shows processing; your finger hovers over “withdraw again.”
5. Ava taps the explorer tab. “Let the chain speak.” You paste your address. An incoming line appears—pending.
6. The exchange UI flashes “Completed.” Ava stops your second click. “Mirror first.” You refresh. Success. The laptop fan eases. You copy the Txn Hash under today’s date in your notes. The urge to double-send leaves your body.

“Now the rest,” she says. You repeat the same steps for the remainder of your small starter amount—same address, same network, same mirror. Copy the hash.

On phone? Trust Wallet or Rabby Mobile will ask for Face/biometric. Approve once. Switch to your explorer app, paste your address, and watch the line settle. Same mirror, smaller screen.

“There,” Ava says. “You didn’t ‘get crypto.’ You moved value with proof.”

What can tilt the ferry (seen in the scene)

The interface tries to help—and sometimes helps you wrong.
A cheap TRC-20 option winks under USDC; you ignore it because your wallet is on Ethereum.
An address with a familiar start appears in clipboard history; you don’t use it because you copied from the wallet UI and verified the first/last six aloud.
A chat tab blinks with “support” promising speed if you share your seed; you close it—real support never needs your key.
A memo/tag field appears on a different asset’s page another day; you’ll read the asset’s rules then—but ETH/ERC-20 to your wallet doesn’t use memos.
The explorer shows pending while the exchange says done; you don’t click twice. You wait for the mirror.

Ava shrugs. “Most disasters are boredom or haste. You’re here for neither.”

Explorer mirrors, revoke later

Ava rests her hand on the explorer tab.
“This is your mirror. It reflects exactly what happened—nothing more, nothing less. If it isn’t here, it didn’t happen.”

You paste the second Txn Hash beneath the first. Two receipts. Quiet on the page. Proof that will read the same next month.

You ask about revoke. She shakes her head.
“Not today. Withdrawals don’t grant token approvals. We opened no windows. Tomorrow we’ll open one window on purpose—you’ll feel the power an approval grants, and what it feels like to close it.”

She leaves the explorer open, calm as a ledger.

Pocket anchors (carry these, not more):

• On-ramp = ferry, not home.
• Coffee-money only. Enough to learn; not enough to bargain.
• Token + Network must match.
• Explorer is the receipt. Keep the hash.

Ava folds her arms.
“You boarded, crossed, stepped off—with proof. Next we install the door perfectly—Lesson 8 is the calm setup, so every later click lands where you intend.”