Preparing the Documents an Exchange Will Ask For
A checklist to assemble before opening an account, so verification is one sitting rather than five rounds.
Gabriel Mas ·
Verification fails on preparation more often than on eligibility. Assemble these before starting and it becomes one sitting.
For an individual
Passport, photographed flat in indirect light with all four corners visible. Not a scan.
A proof of address dated within three months: bank statement or utility bill as a PDF, with the address matching your application exactly.
A quiet, evenly lit place for the liveness check.
For a larger first purchase
Evidence of where the money came from: a payslip, a sale agreement, a tax return, or a bank statement showing the deposit arriving.
A screenshot of a balance does not satisfy this. It shows the money exists rather than its origin.
For a company
Certificate of incorporation, articles, register of directors, register of beneficial owners, and a recent proof of the registered address.
Then individual documents for every beneficial owner above the threshold and for the authorised signatory.
For a company, additionally
A brief description of what the business does and why it needs crypto. This is asked in nearly every corporate onboarding and answering it well shortens everything that follows.
Vague answers generate questions. Specific ones do not.
The format rules that trip people up
PDFs rather than screenshots for anything originally digital. Original photographs rather than scans for documents. Nothing cropped, nothing edited, nothing with a filter applied.
Editing software metadata on an image is a common automatic rejection and it catches people who merely rotated a photo in the wrong application.
The names must match
Across every document and the application form. A middle name on the passport and not on the form, or a maiden name on a statement, both fail an automated comparison.
Where a difference is genuine, say so in advance rather than letting it be found.
The check worth doing first
That the venue serves your country and will accept your payment method. Collect & Exchange publishes both, and no amount of documentation overcomes a country restriction.
The result of preparing
One submission, automated approval in minutes, and a purchase the same day. A platform where each step tells you what happens next tells you which document is missing rather than simply rejecting, which is the difference between one round and five, and exchanges that let you practise with a small amount first let you test the account before committing anything significant.