Methods of Sending Bitcoin

Bitcoin is obviously the most popular cryptocurrency in the world. Though a lot of other cryptocurrencies (and even forks) have been created since Bitcoin appeared, the first cryptocurrency is still holding onto its leadership.

Why? The thing is, people who are not crypto enthusiasts mainly have heard about Bitcoin only. The hype created by the rapid growth of its currency price a couple of years ago made it the main newsmaker, and the first thing people found out about the crypto industry.

There are also other reasons for Bitcoin’s popularity: it was the first crypto it to be adopted as an alternative payment method. You can hardly find an online store that has a cryptocurrency payment option and doesn’t accept Bitcoin. Most of them accept Bitcoin only, and only a few deals in other cryptocurrencies that have begun to seem reliable.

When the adoption of Bitcoin grows, the question arises: how to send Bitcoin? This is the subject to which this article is dedicated. When dealing with BTC, you may need something more than just sending crypto from one wallet to another. You may also need to find out ways to convert it into fiat currency or deposit it in an e-wallet account.

In order to protect your crypto assets, you may want to check out hardware wallet Ledger, one of the best security solutions, enabling you to protect the private keys.

How to Send Bitcoin to Someone

First of all, it matters where you store your Bitcoin, or even whether you have it at all. You can have Bitcoin stored on:

• a computer – if you download the software that allows you to store, mine, and conduct transactions with the crypto. By the way, if you want to mine Bitcoins and generate revenue,  Hashflare service allows you to do this without buying expensive equipment.
• cold storage – hardware or paper. Your Bitcoin can be stored on the flash drive and/or a piece of paper.
• a website – an exchange or similar site that holds you Bitcoin

Each of these methods has its pros and cons.

Storing crypto on a computer with specialized software is a good idea for gaining control over your money and still being able to manage it whenever you have access to the Internet.

Using cold storage is safe. Well, at least Bitcoin on a flash drive or in a paper wallet is invulnerable to hacks. However, you need to make sure you keep these safe physically. You will need to perform more operations to complete the transaction, however.

Allowing some kind of service may not be the best decision in terms of safety, with all the hacks we have heard about. However, it provides two sure advantages: prompt access to Bitcoin online and the ability to restore access to your account with money if you forget your login data. On the other hand, if you forget your private key or lose your cold storage, there is no option for you to redeem Bitcoin.

Depending on the method of Bitcoin storage, you can choose one of the ways to send them. We recommend Cryptopay, a perfect solution to manage your Bitcoins, convert them in fiat, send them to friends, and shop anywhere with cards. One more effective platform is CoinPayments. It offers an integrated payment gateway for convenient storage, sending, and converting your cryptocurrencies.

However, no matter which method you choose, it is going to take some time for a transaction to be completed. The question is, how much time do you need?

How Long Does It Take to Send Bitcoin?

The time it takes to send Bitcoin can vary. This depends on two factors:

• network load
• the transaction fee

Network load depends on the number of transactions being processed at the moment. All transactions are processed by miners and have to be confirmed by other nodes in order to be completed. The higher the load, the less computational power is introduced to process the transaction, and the longer you have to wait until it is completed. At the highest load, the transaction takes 7-8 days. However, it usually takes several hours. If you want to have transactions conducted in a quick and efficient way, Challengly offers a fast and secure way to purchase or trade multiple currencies.

There is one more factor affecting transaction time: the fee you agree to pay. The higher it is, the higher the priority and the sooner it will be processed. It is not necessary to pay the fee, as you can also complete the transaction for free; however, this means you have to wait longer until it is completed.

You can always check your transaction status on https://www.blockchain.com/explorer and similar sites. All you need to do is enter the transaction hash in the search field. You will get all the information about the payment, including the number of confirmations.

Let’s look at an example:

In the graphic, you can see a transaction example that has not been completed yet.

Red arrow points on the transaction hash.

Blue arrow points on the sender address.

Black arrow point to the destination addresses.

You can see that the amount of BTC sent and “Unconfirmed Transaction!” are marked in red. This means that the nodes did not confirm the transaction. It will take some time for the first confirmation to happen. When that happens, you will see the number of confirmations. This will grow with time.

Of course, when it comes to various services like exchanges or payment systems where you hold your Bitcoin, you may see prompt movement of the funds within the service. However, this means that you do not really hold the BTC; the service does, and it allows you to use the BTC you have. It will take some time to get your Bitcoin on your external address if you decide to withdraw it.

From time to time, you may end up dealing with such a situation when there is no Bitcoin available, and you’ll need to use another payment system or currency to send crypto.

How to Send Bitcoin to PayPal and Other Payment Systems

If you use online payment systems like PayPal, Skrill, and others, you may need an option to convert your crypto into fiat in your balance. Usually, the best way to do this is to use exchangers that offer this option.

Usually, all you need to do is provide:

• your BTC address
• your PayPal email (for other services, other kinds of data may be needed)
• your contact data
• the number of funds to send

Such services usually work manually, so it may take time to process your request. Do not forget that your transaction must be confirmed within the blockchain to get completed. Once it is confirmed, the service transfers funds to your payment-system wallet in the prescribed period.

Note that different services have different confirmation limits. For example, some services wait to get 3 confirmations of a transaction, after which the deposit is considered to have been completed.

Consider existing limits to the sum that can be converted per transaction. Some services cannot convert more than a few hundred bucks per transaction.

If you store your BTC on an exchange platform, there can be available options to withdraw funds from your online payment system account. You can find instructions on how to do this on the service website.

If you need to make payment in BTC and your funds are located only in your e-wallet, you can send Bitcoin from PayPal (not directly, though). You will have to purchase crypto on the exchange, then make a simple external exchange transfer from your account.

How to Send Bitcoin from a Paper Wallet

If you use a paper wallet to store BTC, the process of sending can be more complicated. Before you transfer funds online, you’ll need to make sure you have an app that supports import from paper wallets.

You’ll also need to scan the QR code, enter a destination address in the app’s transfer field, and wait until the transaction has been completed.

How to Send Bitcoin to My Bank Account

If you want to send Bitcoin to a bank account, you’ll need to prepare for the fact that it can take some time, especially if the SWIFT payment method is used. There are several methods available:

• exchange services
• a wire withdrawal via exchanges and trade platforms
• p2p exchange platforms

Exchange services offer the option to buy crypto for fiat currency at a fixed price. Here, you can enter the service website, type in the amount of BTC you want to convert to USD (as an example) in your bank account, and see how much USD will arrive. These types of exchanges work manually.

You can choose another option, as well. Just make a deposit on any exchange/trade platform from your BTC address. Then use the bank account withdrawal method. The BTC will be converted to the currency you choose, and you will see the sum that arrives in your bank account.

Note that for the two methods prescribed above, the services you deal with cannot affect the fees your bank enforces for incoming payments.

You also can use p2p exchange services. In this case, you can place or view the orders of other users who buy BTC and pay with the bank wire method. With this and the previous method, you can get the best conversion rate. However, it may take time until the good order appears or your order is answered.

It is worth mentioning that a bank wire can take up to seven days, especially if you are dealing with a service like a payment system or exchange. In this case, you will need to be patient to acquire money via this method.

How to send Bitcoin to a bank account more quickly? Usually, it helps if you have a credit card. Withdrawals from credit cards can take much less time when dealing with services; sometimes, they are even processed promptly. In any case, it doesn’t take more than five business days at the most.

You can also send Bitcoin with a credit card or your bank account. You’ll still need to purchase crypto on the exchange, then make an external transfer to the recipient’s address. You also can link your bank account to a crypto exchange similar to Coinbase.

How to Send Bitcoin from Coinbase and Other Exchanges

Coinbase is one of the most popular crypto exchanges in the world. If you have BTC in your Coinbase wallet, you can transfer in two different ways:

• via email to another Coinbase user
• via wallet address if the receiver doesn’t have a Coinbase account

Coinbase supports many fiat currencies. If you want to send BTC in a specified currency, you should set it in the Send field. Funds will be transferred in Bitcoin. The fee will be 1.49%, so make sure you consider this when making payment.

How to Send Bitcoin to an Address via SMS

There are also methods available for sending Bitcoin (without access to the Internet) using your mobile phone. In order to use this method, you’ll need to sign in your phone number to the service base that allows text messages for sending Bitcoin (Coinapult, blockchain.com). How does this work? Let’s review Coinapult as an example.

You’ll need to sign in to Coinapult and add your phone number on your profile page. In order to send Bitcoin, use the command “send” + recipient’s phone number + {amount of bitcoins}. Here is an example.

Even if the person you send money to doesn’t have a Coinapult account, he/she will be notified via SMS. After signing up, he or she can redeem funds to his/her Bitcoin address.

How to Send Bitcoin to Someone Without a Wallet?

This is rather tricky. You can only do it if you are dealing with a service that allows the transfer of funds via phone number using text messages, or via email. The service must support the ability of the recipient to create an account after he or she has received funds via email or phone number. In any case, even if you plan to send someone Bitcoin, the recipient will need to get a wallet in order to redeem the funds. That is not really a problem, as prompt address creation on such services is a simple procedure.

There are also original ways to send Bitcoin if you use cold storage, like a paper wallet or flash drive containing Bitcoin. However, you will have to send storage physically.

What if I Send Bitcoin to an Invalid Address?

Anyone can make a mistake, and it can also happen when typing in the recipient’s data in the transfer “to” field. This can be fatal or reversable — it all depends on the payment method you use and the type of mistake you have made.

If you send Bitcoin by typing in the address, two things can happen if you have made a mistake:

• The transaction won’t start – if there are fewer numbers in the address than there should be, or symbols that should not be in the address, or the address doesn’t exist
• The transaction waits to be confirmed – if you typed an address that exists, but is not the one you want to send money to, the transaction will go on.

However, you can always cancel the transaction unless it has been confirmed at least once. In this case, the transaction becomes irreversible. The above-mentioned statement relates to a situation in which you have used a Bitcoin address to complete a transaction.

If you used an email or a phone number and typed them incorrectly, there are two possible scenarios:

• If a user with this data is registered in the service, the transaction will proceed.
• If a user with this data doesn’t exist, the transaction will be canceled (it won’t even be started), but only if there is no option in the service to make transfers using nonexistent yet in-the-system data, as described in the section above.

If you notice you have made a mistake, remember that an unconfirmed transaction can be canceled. If there is no option to cancel the transaction on your own, make a request to the support service.

How to Send Bitcoin to an Ethereum Wallet

There is no such option. Bitcoin and Ethereum are different cryptocurrencies, and you cannot use a Bitcoin address on the Ethereum blockchain, and vice versa. However, you can exchange BTC to ETH on any exchange that supports these trading pairs.

How Do Bitcoin Transactions Work?

When you know the methods for sending Bitcoin to someone, you might be interested in how it really works.

A Bitcoin transaction contains of:

• a header
  • hash – the value used to check the integrity of a piece of data
  • ver – the version number used to verify the block
  • vin_sz – the number of inputs the transaction contains
  • vout_sz – the number of outputs the transaction contains
  • lock_time – the time when the block can be added to the blockchain
• input
  • previous output hash – the money you have and plan to spend during the transaction
  • n – an index of the list of outputs
  • scriptSig – the script that confirms your right to spend the money during this transaction
• output
  • value – the number of Satoshis to spend ( 1 BTC contains 100 million Satoshi)
  • scriptPubKey – points out the receiver’s hashed public key

So, this is what a transaction consists of when created. This is what the nodes check when conducting confirmations. There should be full compliance with all the data listed above as witnessed by the nodes that analyze transaction. The transaction will be confirmed afterward. You can find out more about how Bitcoin transactions work in our article.

Is It Possible to Speed up the Bitcoin Sending Process?

As mentioned above, when you send money through Bitcoin, there is network load in addition to a fee you pay which influences the time it takes for the transaction to be completed. The only way to make the transactions process more quickly is to solve the scalability issue for the Bitcoin blockchain. You can find out more about scalability issues and why they appear in our article about the use of cryptocurrency consensus.

The consensus-type Bitcoin blockchain (proof of work) demands large efforts by miners to confirm transactions. It is known that the Bitcoin blockchain can now process no more than seven transactions per second. Meanwhile, VISA and MasterCard manage to process hundreds of thousands of transactions per second.

What does this mean? It means it will take a long time for a crypto to reach the transaction-processing speed centralized payment operators have. This is likely to be the price for the ability to make p2p payments.

Is It Cost-Effective to Send Money with Bitcoin?

The problem with Bitcoin is that it is a very volatile currency. If you tie it to USD, any other fiat currency, or even another cryptocurrency, you will notice that the price of Bitcoin changes dramatically within 24 hours.

In the chart above, you can see that in a couple of hours, the price of Bitcoin changes by more than $300 USD. This leads to an unpleasant situation when the value of the BTC you have sent decreases or increases dramatically as you wait for the transaction to be completed.

The only way to minimize the risks, especially if you want to exchange BTC to fiat currency, is to make sure you have paid the fee that will cause the transaction to be confirmed sooner.

Conclusion

There are numerous ways available to send Bitcoin. Each has own advantages. You can use a Bitcoin address if you are online, or use your phone to write a text message with a command to make a transaction. You can store your money on hardware or paper, or even delegate storage to a service you trust. This will affect the way you can send Bitcoin, too. Thus, you can choose the very best methods that suit you ideally.

Write the methods you use most often to send Bitcoin in the comments.