Do exchanges mark up bitcoin withdrawal fees?
Yes, and the size of it is measurable. The common claim that exchanges simply pass the network fee through does not survive contact with the numbers.
What we measure, and what we do not
The table below is measured: each exchange's published withdrawal fee, converted at the current price, against the median on-chain cost of the same transfer. Those are the platforms whose fee schedules are readable without an account.
Coinbase, Binance and Kraken are not in the table, and it would be dishonest to imply otherwise: Coinbase's fee endpoint requires an authenticated account, Binance blocks requests from this server's region, and Kraken's public asset data does not carry withdrawal fees. We publish what we can verify.
Measured markups right now
| Route | Network cost | Exchange charges | Multiple | You overpay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LTC via KuCoin | $0.0004 | $0.30 | 674× | $0.30 |
| DOGE via HTX | $0.0014 | $0.43 | 307× | $0.43 |
| DOGE via KuCoin | $0.0014 | $0.34 | 245× | $0.34 |
| ETH via HTX | $0.0078 | $1.25 | 159× | $1.24 |
| BTC via KuCoin | $0.0457 | $7.09 | 155× | $7.04 |
| LTC via HTX | $0.0004 | $0.05 | 112× | $0.05 |
| BTC via HTX | $0.0457 | $3.94 | 86× | $3.89 |
Live figures, recomputed continuously. Download the full series — this is the BTCVC Withdrawal Markup Index.
What Coinbase itself says
The widely repeated claim that Coinbase passes network fees straight through is contradicted by Coinbase's own fee disclosure, which states that the aggregate network fees estimated and charged to users in a batch may exceed the fee Coinbase actually pays, and that Coinbase may retain the excess.
That is a quote from the operator's own published terms, not a measurement of ours. It matters because it establishes that a gap between what you are charged and what the network costs is expected behaviour, not an anomaly.
Why the gap widens when the network is quiet
A withdrawal fee is a price, not a cost. It is set in coin terms and left alone for months. The network fee moves minute to minute. When block space is contested the two converge and the fee looks reasonable; when the network is quiet — which is most of the time — the same flat fee becomes a large multiple of the real cost.
That is why the multiple is the number to watch rather than the dollar amount. Bitcoin is currently confirming at 1 sat/vB, which is exactly the condition under which flat fees look worst.
How to pay less
- Withdraw less often, in larger amounts. The fee is flat, so ten withdrawals cost ten times one withdrawal regardless of size. This is the largest saving available to most people.
- Check the chain. Moving value rather than a specific coin? See Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Dogecoin.
- Withdraw from a wallet you control where possible, and you pay the network fee only.
- Watch the clock — see when fees are lowest.
The full breakdown of network fee, exchange fee and spread →