The best one for each case
| If your case is | The pick | The number that decides it |
|---|---|---|
| Testing with the smallest possible amount | Coinbase | BRL 1 minimum |
| A fast Pix with no exchange fee | Bitso | under 1 minute, no fee |
| Knowing which company receives your Pix | OKX | BRL 5 minimum, Pix key is the CNPJ of OKX Serviços Digitais Ltda |
| Moving a large amount in one day | Kraken | 550,000 BRL daily ceiling, with 0.3% IOF on the way in |
What each one publishes about funding in reais
| Exchange | Published minimum | Published speed | Deposit cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coinbase | BRL 1 | instant, clearing up to 30 min | — |
| OKX | BRL 5 | instant, a few minutes | shown on the payment method |
| Kraken | 50 BRL | near instant | 0.3% IOF |
| Bitso | — | under 1 minute | no fee |
| Crypto.com | — | Pix 24 hours a day, 7 days a week | no Crypto.com fee |
| Binance | — | Pix credited 24/7 | shown before you confirm, if any |
| Bybit | — | shown when you pick the payment method | shown when you pick the payment method |
| Mercado Bitcoin | — | — | — |
Three of the eight publish a minimum in reais. For the other five we did not verify a published minimum, and the dash in the table means exactly that, not an accusation.
The three published minimums, and what each one decides
Coinbase's payment-method table has a section for Brazilian customers and states the figure outright: the minimum deposit is one real. It is the smallest number among the eight and it is what you want for a first test. The same page warns that clearing can take up to 30 minutes because of bank security measures.
OKX publishes BRL 5 and goes past the number: deposits under BRL 5 are refused and returned to your bank account. Five reais tests the same thing one real does, and OKX ships a detail almost nobody publishes — its instructions tell you to note the CNPJ and the recipient name, OKX Serviços Digitais Ltda. You know who you are paying before you pay.
Kraken asks for 50 BRL. That is fifty times Coinbase's minimum, and it is the only one of the three where testing with pocket change is not on the table.
If the point is to learn the flow before moving real money, send BRL 1 to Coinbase or BRL 5 to OKX, watch the balance land, and only then decide where to concentrate.
Binance Global vs. 2 alternatives
A quick view of canonical data. Open the comparison for every source and condition.
Binance Global- Funding
- Not verified
- Taker fee
- 0.1%
- Status
- Editorial only
Bitso- Funding
- Pix + BRL
- Taker fee
- 0.4%
- Status
- Editorial only
Coinbase- Funding
- Pix + Bank transfer
- Taker fee
- 0.6%
- Status
- Editorial only
An exchange fee and the IOF charge are not the same thing
Three of the eight say in writing that they charge nothing to fund. Bitso lists Pix with no fee and a time of under one minute. Crypto.com states that it does not charge fees for BRL deposits over Pix or TED, while noting your own bank might. On Binance, the fee amount, if there is one, appears on screen before you confirm.
Kraken is the different case, and it is worth understanding why. The cost line on its Brazilian real deposit reads 0.3% IOF. That is not Kraken's price: it is a Brazilian tax that shows up there because the operation runs through a currency conversion. On BRL 1,000 it is BRL 3.00 gone before you buy anything.
The practical point: across the eight, getting in by Pix is cheap or free. Where the money actually goes is the trading fee, which is a different calculation.
The CPF rule that bounces your Pix
This is the number one reason a deposit never lands, and the six exchanges that document the rule all say the same thing in different words.
- Kraken requires a Brazilian tax ID that matches the name on your Kraken account.
- Binance states that the taxpayer number must match the name used for identity verification, and its deposit page repeats that only transfers from an account linked to your own CPF or CNPJ are accepted.
- At OKX, a different CPF or name means the deposit is refused and returned to the bank.
- Crypto.com identifies transfers by the CPF on the sending account and returns anything from an unrecognised one. It does not accept CNPJ deposits at all.
- Bybit describes the harshest version: a name mismatch freezes the deposit for 72 hours before returning it to the original account.
In daily terms: do not ask a relative to send the Pix, do not use a joint account where someone else is the primary holder, and do not fund from your company account. The money comes back, and on Bybit it comes back three days later.
Depositing reais does not always mean holding reais
Kraken publishes this plainly and is the only one of the eight where we found this mechanic: reais cannot be held in the account. The deposit is credited as BRL1, which Kraken itself describes as a stablecoin pegged one to one to the real. The same page says Brazilian real deposits currently work only through its web platform.
That does not make Kraken bad. It makes Kraken different: you are not parking reais in an account, you are holding a token that promises to be worth one real. If your plan was to leave money sitting in reais between trades, that is one more moving part.
Limits and deadlines that stop a large transfer
Kraken publishes 550,000 BRL per day for Brazilian real deposits, refreshing 24 hours later. It is the highest daily ceiling we verified. Crypto.com publishes 3,000,000 BRL per month on a 30-day rolling window, or 30 transactions, whichever comes first — note that the transaction count can stop you before the amount does.
Deadlines matter too. On Binance, a Pix order expires in 24 hours and a TED order in 72. At OKX, a deposit sent by TED or DOC is returned, and the return can take up to 15 days because it needs manual review. Preferring Pix is not our editorial taste: it is the route the exchanges themselves ask for.
Mercado Bitcoin accepts Pix, TED or DOC in its published buying steps.
Checklist before your first deposit
- Finish identity verification before generating the Pix; Bybit requires it for any fiat deposit.
- Confirm your bank account name and CPF are identical to the ones on your exchange account.
- Generate the Pix code inside the exchange and pay through your banking app rather than typing amounts by hand.
- Read the recipient name before confirming in the bank app.
- Send the published minimum first, watch it land, and only then move the real amount.
- Check whether your balance is in reais or in a token that represents reais.
- Withdraw a small amount back out before concentrating money on the platform.
No account yet? Step-by-step sign-up and verification guides are published for Binance, Bybit, Coinbase, and OKX.
Failure modes to watch (Pix deposit)
- CPF / name mismatch — Pix sent from another person’s bank key often bounces or freezes credit until support clears it.
- Holding ≠ reais — some rails credit a token or foreign balance; you still need a convert step before you can spend BRL.
- Minimum vs fee — a tiny minimum can still sit next to IOF or a convert cost; read both lines.
- Wrong CNPJ / Pix key — confirm the named recipient (e.g. published OKX CNPJ key) before sending.
FAQ
Which exchange accepts the smallest deposit? Coinbase, with a BRL 1 minimum on its own payment-method table. OKX is next at BRL 5, and Kraken asks for 50 BRL.
Does a Pix deposit carry a fee? Not at Bitso or Crypto.com, according to their own pages. Kraken shows 0.3% IOF, which is a tax rather than an exchange price. At Binance, OKX and Bybit the amount appears on screen before you confirm.
Why did my Pix bounce? Almost always because the sending account carries a different CPF or name from your registration. Binance, Kraken, OKX, Crypto.com and Bybit all describe that return in their own help pages.
Can I fund by TED or DOC? On some, but it is worse. OKX returns TED and DOC and the refund can take 15 days. Binance gives you 72 hours to pay a TED order against 24 hours for Pix. Mercado Bitcoin and Crypto.com list TED alongside Pix.
Do you earn a commission if I deposit? No. All eight are editorial only in our record, so this page carries no referral link.
Verdict
To get reais into an exchange, Pix is the only route worth using, and the pick depends on how much you want to risk on the first move. Coinbase to test with BRL 1, OKX to test with BRL 5 while knowing who receives it, Bitso for a fee-free deposit in under a minute, Kraken when the amount is large and the 550,000 BRL daily ceiling matters more than the 0.3% IOF.
What holds across all eight: the Pix must come from an account under your own CPF, or it comes back. And none of them has a named Banco Central authorisation confirmed in our data, which is why this page is editorial. Compare the total cost in the exchange list before deciding where to leave your money.