How do I send money via bitcoin?

Sending bitcoins is as easy as choosing the amount to send and deciding where it goes.

The exact process of doing this will depend on the type of bitcoin wallet you are using, but the main thing you need to know is the 'address' of the recipient. A bitcoin address is an alphanumeric string that looks like this:

So one way to send bitcoins is to copy the recipient's address to your clipboard and then paste it into the send field of the bitcoin wallet app you're using.

Bitcoin addresses can also be displayed in QR code format. If you're sending bitcoins from a mobile wallet such as the bitcoin.com wallet, you can use your phone's camera to scan the QR code of the address you want to send it to. It will automatically fill in the address.

As for sending amounts, most wallets allow you to toggle between showing the sent amount as bitcoin (BTC) or showing it in your local currency.

IMPORTANT: Bitcoin transactions are irreversible, so if you send to the wrong address, most likely you will never see that bitcoin again.

Rates are measured in satoshi/byte. A satoshi is the smallest divisible unit of bitcoin, which is 0.00000001 BTC (hundredth of a bitcoin). Each transaction is made up of data, which is measured in bytes. More complex transactions involve more data and are therefore more expensive. Generally speaking, this means that transactions of higher value (involving more bitcoins) consume more data and therefore require higher transaction fees.

However, it is not that simple. In fact, it is entirely possible for a 1 BTC transaction to contain more data (and hence the need for higher fees) than a 0.5 BTC transaction. To understand how the bitcoin blockchain actually works, we need to look at it in some detail.

The system runs on what is known as the Unexpected Transaction Exit (UTXO) model, which is an efficient and privacy-enhancing way of managing the Bitcoin Ledger. It works like this:

In the beginning, the coins are minted through a mining process. These new coins are known as 'Coinbase'. Now imagine that a miner, who has received a current block reward of 6.25 BTC, sends 1 BTC to Alice. On the ledger this actually shows up as 6.25 BTC sent to Alice and 5.25 BTC sent back to the miner, leaving Alice with a balance of 1 BTC and the miner with a balance of 5.25 BTC (The miner has 5.25 BTC unspent transaction output). 

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The system is similar to paying for something with a cash bill: If the item costs $2.50, you don't cut the five-dollar bill in half. Instead, he hands over the entire five-dollar bill and receives $2.50 in return. In our example, the miner sent a 6.25 BTC 'note' and received 5.25 BTC in return.

When it comes to fees, although the amount of bitcoin involved is significant, the fee for completing a transaction will be relatively small as the transaction is relatively simple. This is because there is only one exit (1 BTC for Alice) and it comes from a single entry or 'note' (6.25 BTC coin base transaction). If we consider that notes take up space in the bitcoin ledger, we can see that this transaction takes up the least amount of space (bytes) possible.

This, again, depends on the wallet. In fact, many web wallets (cryptocurrency exchanges) do not give you any control over network fees. Instead, they have a default rate (which is almost always set higher than the actual rates they pay). In other words, they make a profit when their customers withdraw bitcoins. This is a common income-generating strategy for cryptocurrency exchanges.

However, most non-custodial wallets allow you to customize the fee that you associate with your bitcoin transactions. For example, the Bitcoin.com wallet has three convenient fee settings, as well as the option to set a custom fee. The default speed ("fast") is set so that your transaction is likely to be confirmed within the next three blocks (ie less than 30 minutes).

If you change it to "fast", you will pay a higher fee and your transaction is likely to be confirmed within the next two blocks (ie less than 20 minutes). Changing it to "echo" will save you some money, but still, your transaction is most likely to be confirmed in the next six blocks, so usually less than 60 minutes. You also have the option to set a custom rate, even for advanced users. You will want to use a tool like Bitcoin Fees to make sure you are selecting the appropriate rate given the current state of network congestion.

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