Sending & Receiving Bitcoin
Addresses, fees, confirmations — and why you double-check before you send.
⏱ About 9 min
By the end of this module you’ll be able to:
- Confidently receive and send bitcoin, double-checking the address every time
- Understand transactions, the mempool, confirmations, and how fees are set
- Respect irreversibility — and know when Lightning makes small payments instant and cheap
Moving bitcoin is genuinely simple once you've done it once — but it works differently from a bank transfer, and a couple of habits keep you safe. Let's walk through it slowly.
Receiving: share an address
To get paid, you share a receiving address from your wallet — a short string of letters and numbers (often starting with bc1...). The sender can copy it, or scan it as a QR code. That's all there is to receiving.
- Address
- A shareable destination for bitcoin, like an account number you can hand out freely. It's safe to share — it only lets people send to you, never spend your coins. Many wallets generate a fresh address for each payment for privacy; they all belong to the same wallet.
Sharing your address is safe
Receiving is the low-stakes direction. Handing out your address can't expose your funds — it exists precisely so people can pay you. The care is all on the sending side.
Sending: paste, double-check, broadcast
Sending takes three steps in any wallet: (1) paste or scan the recipient's address, (2) enter the amount and choose a fee, (3) broadcast it to the network. Step one deserves real attention.
Always double-check the address
Before you hit send, verify the address — ideally check the first few and last few characters against what the recipient gave you. Bitcoin payments can't be undone, so a wrong address means the coins are gone. (Some malware even swaps a copied address for the attacker's. Checking takes five seconds and saves everything.)
A signed check the whole world can verify
Think of a transaction like writing a check that everyone can see and check is genuine — except there's no bank in the middle, and once it clears, it can't be cancelled. You sign it with your secret key to prove it's really you, and the network does the rest.
What a transaction actually is
Under the hood, a transaction isn't moving a 'balance' like a bank account. It spends specific chunks of bitcoin you received earlier (inputs) and sends them to new destinations (outputs) — usually the recipient plus some change back to you.
- Inputs, outputs & change
- Inputs say where the coins come from (chunks you received before); outputs say where they go (the recipient, plus 'change' returning to you). Your wallet handles all of this automatically — you just see an amount and a recipient.
Paying with a $10 bill
Bitcoin spends whole 'bills' and gives change, just like cash. Buy a $7 coffee with a $10 bill, and you hand over the $10 (the input) and get $3 back (the change output). Your wallet does this bookkeeping for you behind the scenes.
Myth
"You send coins from a balance, like a bank account."
Reality
You actually spend specific earlier chunks (inputs) and get change back. Your 'balance' is just your wallet adding up all the unspent chunks it controls.
The mempool and confirmations
Once you broadcast, your transaction doesn't settle instantly. It first lands in the mempool — a waiting room of unconfirmed transactions — until a miner picks it up and packs it into a block.
- Mempool
- The network's waiting room. Every broadcast transaction sits here until a miner includes it in a block. When lots of people are transacting, the room gets crowded and fees rise.
- Confirmation
- Your transaction getting included in a block. Each new block built on top adds another confirmation, making the payment progressively harder to reverse. Blocks arrive about every 10 minutes on average.
Concrete setting
A confirmation is like wet concrete hardening. The first block is the concrete being poured; each block stacked on top is another layer setting over it, until reversing the payment is practically impossible.
New blocks land roughly every 10 minutes on average (sometimes 2, sometimes 20). Most exchanges and merchants treat about 6 confirmations — around an hour — as very safe and final, though small everyday amounts are often accepted sooner.
Myth
"Bitcoin transactions are instant."
Reality
Broadcasting is fast, but settlement waits for confirmations — usually ~10 minutes for the first, and roughly an hour (about 6 confirmations) for full on-chain finality.
Fees and the fee market
Every transaction includes a small fee paid to whichever miner confirms it (there's no Bitcoin company collecting it). Crucially, the fee depends on your transaction's data size — not the dollar amount you send.
- Fee market
- When the mempool is busy, users bid higher fees to get confirmed sooner, so fees rise; when the network is quiet, fees fall, sometimes to almost nothing. You choose how much to pay based on how fast you need it.
A faster-lane ticket
The mempool is a waiting room and the fee is your place in line. Miners grab the highest-paying transactions first, so paying a higher fee is like buying a fast-lane ticket. In no hurry? A lower fee saves money and just waits a little longer.
Myth
"Fees are a percentage of the amount you send."
Reality
Fees are based on a transaction's data size, not its value. Sending $5 or $5 million can cost the same fee, because the cost is about how much room your transaction takes in a block.
No undo button
Confirmed means permanent
Bitcoin transactions are effectively irreversible. Once confirmed, there's no chargeback, no 'customer service' reversal, and no undo. If you send to the wrong address or get tricked into paying a scammer, the coins are generally gone for good.
This cuts both ways. No one can reverse a payment you receive (great protection against fraud and chargebacks) — but no one can rescue you if you send to the wrong place. In Bitcoin, you are your own bank, which is why that five-second address check matters so much.
Myth
"If I make a mistake, Bitcoin support can reverse it."
Reality
There is no support line and no undo button. Confirmed transactions are permanent — which is exactly why you double-check the address before sending.
A faster lane: Lightning
On-chain payments are secure but take minutes and cost a fee. For tiny, everyday payments there's a faster option built on top of Bitcoin: the Lightning Network, a 'Layer 2.'
- Lightning Network (Layer 2)
- A system built on top of Bitcoin that moves real bitcoin near-instantly and for tiny fees, settling back to the main blockchain only when needed. It's great for small, frequent payments like a coffee — not a separate coin.
Opening a bar tab
Lightning is like running a bar tab instead of paying the bank for every single drink. You settle up on the main ledger only when you open or close the tab — in between, you can make many instant, near-free payments.
Myth
"Lightning is a separate coin or a different network's token."
Reality
Lightning is a Layer 2 built on top of Bitcoin. It moves real bitcoin faster and cheaper, then settles back to the main Bitcoin blockchain.
Send a transaction, step by step
Try a safe practice run: paste an address, double-check it, pick a fee, broadcast, and watch it move through the mempool to its first confirmations.
- 1. Receive
- 2. Compose
- 3. Fee
- 4. Confirm
- 5. Done
First, how you get paid
Your wallet has an address — like an email for money. Share it with anyone who wants to pay you.
What just happened: An address is safe to share — it only lets people send you bitcoin, never take it. A new one can be made any time.
Check your understanding
Question 1 of 3
What's the single most important habit before sending bitcoin?
Question 2 of 3
What does a 'confirmation' tell you?
Question 3 of 3
How is a Bitcoin transaction fee determined?
Key takeaways
- Receiving is easy and safe: just share or scan your address. Sending is where care is needed.
- Always double-check the recipient's address before broadcasting — transactions are irreversible.
- A transaction spends earlier chunks (inputs) and returns change; it waits in the mempool until a miner confirms it.
- Blocks arrive ~every 10 minutes; about 6 confirmations is very safe. Fees track data size and network demand, not the amount sent.
- Lightning is a Layer 2 on top of Bitcoin for instant, tiny-fee everyday payments — still real bitcoin.
Tip: finish the interactive activities above to get the most out of this module.