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GlossaryTTransfer Bitcoin and Transaction

Transfer Bitcoin and Transaction

A Bitcoin transaction is a digitally signed transfer of digital assets (BTC) between addresses on the bitcoin blockchain.

What is Transfer Bitcoin and Transaction?

A Bitcoin transaction is the process of transferring Bitcoin (BTC) from one wallet address to another, recorded immutably on the Bitcoin blockchain. Transactions are created by a sender’s wallet, which uses a private key to sign a data structure specifying inputs (unspent transaction outputs, or UTXOs, from prior transactions), outputs (recipient addresses and amounts), and a fee for miners.

For example, sending 0.1 BTC to an address like “bc1qar0srrr7xfkvy5l643lydnw9re59gtzzwf5mdq” requires a transaction ID (TxID), a 64-character hash (e.g., “1a2b3c4d…”), to track it. Each transaction, typically 200-500 bytes, is broadcast to the network, validated by nodes (requiring ~600 GB for a full blockchain copy), and confirmed in a block every ~10 minutes.

To transfer Bitcoin, a user inputs the recipient’s address, amount, and fee in their wallet. The wallet selects UTXOs to cover the amount, signs the transaction with the private key, and broadcasts it to nodes. Miners prioritize transactions with higher fees. Transactions achieve finality after 6 confirmations (~1 hour), though 1 confirmation often suffices for low-value transfers.

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