Transfers and withdrawals - Anchorage Digital

Both transfers and withdrawals move assets out of—or between—your holdings, for both USD and digital assets. The difference is the approval model, and that choice drives the setup, the destinations you can reach, and the controls on each movement.

Transfers

A transfer moves assets without quorum approval on each request, which suits recurring or high-frequency flows. Approval is front-loaded into one-time setup: an allowlisted destination and a permission group scoped to the operation. Transfers reach internal wallets and external destinations.

Withdrawals

A withdrawal requires quorum approval on every request, giving you granular control over each movement through your vault policies. Because each withdrawal is approved individually, the destination doesn’t need to be allowlisted in advance.

Asset support

	Internal transfer API	External transfer API	Withdrawal API
Digital assets
USD

Feature comparison

	Internal transfer	External transfer	Withdrawal
Quorum required (per request)
Destination	Wallets you own	Allowlisted address or trusted destination	Any address, trusted destination, or internal wallet
Pre-allowlisted destination required
Trusted destination bound to permission group		Configurable
AML information required
Memo or tag inherited from trusted destination	n/a
Queued	Yes (up to 50 per source)	Yes	No (one at a time)
Deduct network fee from amount (`deductFeeFromAmountIfSameType`)
Gas station (`useGasStation`)

Source and destination options

Operation	Source	Destination
Internal transfer	`WALLET`	`WALLET`
External transfer	`WALLET`	`ADDRESS` or `TRUSTED_DESTINATION`
Withdrawal	`WALLET`	`WALLET`, `ADDRESS`, or `TRUSTED_DESTINATION`

Prefer WALLET over VAULT. When a VAULT is specified, the system selects the first-created wallet in the vault for the asset, even if that wallet has been archived. Use VAULT only when a single wallet per asset is maintained. The VAULT type will be deprecated in the future.

When a transfer queues

Queuing is keyed to the source wallet—never the vault, and never the destination. A transfer is held as QUEUED only when another movement is already in flight from the same source wallet:

A withdrawal pending from that source wallet holds subsequent transfers until the withdrawal is broadcast or cancelled.
A transfer in progress from that source wallet holds additional transfers behind it; they appear in the activity log. Up to 50 transfers can be queued per source wallet.

Activity on the destination never queues a transfer. Sending from wallet A to wallet B doesn’t queue just because wallet B has a pending withdrawal. For the per-asset and per-blockchain specifics, see Crypto transfer. Withdrawals themselves don’t queue. If a withdrawal is already ongoing from a source wallet, a new withdrawal request from that wallet fails rather than waiting in line.

To keep quorum-pending withdrawals from blocking automated settlement, isolate withdrawals in a dedicated wallet. Settlement transfers from your settlement wallet then run without waiting on withdrawal approvals elsewhere.

The same move, two ways

Moving 1 ETH to a destination you’ve allowlisted—first as a transfer (no per-request approval), then as a withdrawal (quorum on each request):

{
  "source": { "id": "{source wallet ID}", "type": "WALLET" },
  "destination": { "id": "{trusted destination ID}", "type": "TRUSTED_DESTINATION" },
  "assetType": "ETH",
  "amount": "1",
  "idempotentId": "{unique ID}",
  "transferAmlQuestionnaire": { "purpose": "{purpose}", "originatorType": "{originatorType}" }
}

{
  "source": { "id": "{source wallet ID}", "type": "WALLET" },
  "destination": { "id": "{trusted destination ID}", "type": "TRUSTED_DESTINATION" },
  "assetType": "ETH",
  "amount": "1",
  "idempotentId": "{unique ID}",
  "withdrawalAmlQuestionnaire": { "useTrustedDestinationAml": true, "originatorType": "MY_ORGANIZATION", "purpose": "INVESTMENT" }
}

The transfer clears without a per-request approval because the destination and permission group were authorized up front; the withdrawal routes to quorum approval before it broadcasts. See Crypto transfer and Crypto withdrawal for full payloads and fields.

Which to use

Choose a transfer when you want automated, repeatable movement and you’ve pre-authorized the destination and permissions. Choose a withdrawal when you want a human quorum checkpoint on each movement, or you’re sending to a one-off destination you don’t want to allowlist. For full API details, see Transfer and Withdraw.

​Transfers

​Withdrawals

​Asset support

​Feature comparison

​Source and destination options

​When a transfer queues

​The same move, two ways

​Which to use

Transfers

Withdrawals

Asset support

Feature comparison

Source and destination options

When a transfer queues

The same move, two ways

Which to use