Bitcoin transactions work like email. You send someone some money, you type out an email address, and you receive something in return. In fact, it works exactly like email, except there aren’t any people involved.
The process begins when you want to spend bitcoins. You go to a website called blockchain.info, where you find a list of addresses. Each address belongs to somebody who owns some bitcoin. Then, you copy down the address and paste it into your wallet software. Your wallet software automatically generates a random number. This is the amount of bitcoin you’re sending. Next, you enter the recipient’s address. Finally, you hit “send.”
Now, you wait. If you sent enough bitcoin to pay for coffee, you might have to wait up to 10 minutes for the person to confirm his or her ownership of the bitcoin and then write back the confirmation code. When the transaction goes through, the receiving party sends you the rest of the bitcoin.
If you’re trying to make a purchase, you’ll need to do the same thing twice. Once you’ve received the payment, you’ll need to give the seller the correct address. He or she will then send you the remainder of the money.
This whole process happens without anyone getting paid. Nobody gets paid because nobody knows about the transaction. Even though no one gets paid, everyone still needs to keep track of every single transaction. So, we call this system “trustless,” because there’s no central authority keeping track of everything.
What Is a Bitcoin Transaction?
A transaction is a transfer of bitcoin value on the blockchain. It happens when you send money to someone else. If you’re sending money to someone, it’s called a “send.” When you receive money, it’s called a’receive.’ So a transaction is a send followed by a receive.
In very simple terms, a transactions is when participant A gives Bitcoin they own to participant A. It’s like handing over cash. And in return, participant B gets some number of Bitcoins. This process is recorded on the blockchain, where all transactions go.
The first transaction ever happened on January 3rd 2009, when Satoshi Nakamoto sent 10 bitcoins to himself.
Today there are many different types of wallets. They each store a different type of information about your wallet. Some wallets let you make transactions directly from your computer. Others allow you to use a web browser. Still others require you to download special software to your phone.
How Do Bitcoin Transactions Work?
Bitcoin transactions work much like email messages. An email contains text and attachments. When you send an email, it goes to a server called a mail exchanger (MX). MX servers store addresses of other servers where people can receive emails. In the same way, a Bitcoin wallet stores addresses of other wallets where bitcoins can be sent.
When you want to make a payment, you type out a command into a computer program that tells the network what you want to do. This is called a “transaction”. Your transaction includes the amount of money you want to spend and the recipient’s address. Once you’ve typed out your command, your computer sends out a request to find the closest Bitcoin node to you. If there’s no node near you, the transaction won’t go through. If there is, the node checks whether anyone else is trying to pay the same person. If someone else is trying to pay that person, the nodes compare the amounts of each transaction and see if they match up. If they do, the nodes exchange information about the transactions and update their records. After the nodes agree that both transactions are legitimate, they add the transactions to a list of pending transactions. At some later date, every node adds all the pending transactions to a block. Each block has a timestamp and a reference to the previous block. All the blocks together form a chain. The blockchain is a public ledger of all the transactions ever recorded. Because everyone knows about the transactions, nobody needs to trust anybody else.
The blockchain keeps track of all the ownership of bitcoin. Ownership is represented by an address. Every address is linked to a piece of code that controls how many bitcoins are owned by that address. This is known as the balance. To move bitcoins from one address to another, the owner uses a special command. This command instructs the network to deduct the number of coins being moved from the old address and add it to the new address.
How Does A Bitcoin Transaction Work?
Bitcoin is a digital currency that allows people to make payments online without having to go through banks. Transactions work similar to credit cards where you enter the amount you want to spend along with your Bitcoin wallet address into a web browser. If the recipient accepts the payment, he or she enters his or her public key into the same form and sends the money to the address. Once both parties sign off on the transaction, it is irreversible.
The process is surprisingly easy, but there are some things to keep in mind. First, you’ll have to download software called a wallet. Wallets store your bitcoins and allow you to access them whenever you’re ready to pay someone. You can find wallets on most computers, phones, tablets and even TVs. Second, you’ll have to choose a strong password to protect your account. Third, you’ll have to verify your identity by providing a photo ID to prove you’re over 18. Fourth, you’ll need to know your private key. This is a random string of letters and numbers that only you know. Finally, you’ll have to wait for 10 minutes while the blockchain verifies the transaction.
Overview of a Bitcoin Transaction
A transaction consists of inputs, outputs, and fees. An input specifies where money comes from; an output specifies where money goes; and fees specify how much money you want to pay. In this case, Alice wants to send 0.05 BTC to Bob. Let’s look at each part in detail.
Inputs
The first thing we care about are the inputs. These are the addresses from which Alice receives her bitcoin. She gets some of her bitcoin from Coinbase, which is a digital wallet provider, and she also gets some from her bank account. For simplicity, let’s say she just got $100 worth of bitcoin from Coinbase.
Outputs
Next, we look at the outputs. This is the address from which she wants to receive her bitcoin. Notice that there is no fee associated with this transaction.
Fees
Finally, we look at the fees. There is a small amount of bitcoin included in the transaction, but it is not enough to cover the cost of sending the entire amount to Bob. So, Alice pays the difference with another coin called satoshi. A single satoshi is equal to one hundred millionth of a bitcoin.
Bitcoin Transaction Fees
The way that Bitcoin works is that it uses a public ledger called the Blockchain. Every 10 minutes, miners race against one another to solve cryptographic puzzles that unlock newly generated bitcoins. In exchange for solving those puzzles, miners receive newly minted coins. These new coins are added to the Blockchain, where everyone can see them.
All transactions take place within the Blockchain, and every single one must be recorded there. So, what happens if you want to send someone $10 worth of BTC? You start off by creating a digital wallet address. A wallet is simply a string of letters and numbers that acts like a bank account. When you want to transfer money to a person, you use their wallet address as the destination.
Once you have a wallet address, you add some value to it — say, $10 — and type out the number into the box labeled “amount.” Then, you hit enter. Now, anyone holding that wallet address can send you money. But wait; there’s more.
You’re probably wondering why we didn’t just call it a dollar amount. Well, because the entire process requires a lot more than that. There’s a whole bunch of steps involved.
