What Happens When You Hit Send?
Sending Bitcoin feels instant. You tap a button in your wallet, and the other person sees a pending payment within seconds. But between that tap and the final settlement, your transaction goes on a short journey through the Bitcoin network.
Understanding this journey helps you make sense of confirmations, fees, and wait times. None of it is complicated once you see the big picture.
The Journey of a Transaction
Think of the Bitcoin network as a postal system. You write a letter, drop it in the mailbox, and it travels through sorting centers before reaching its destination. A Bitcoin transaction works the same way — just much faster.
Step 1: You sign and send. Your wallet uses your private key to sign the transaction. This signature proves you own the Bitcoin you are spending. Once signed, the transaction is broadcast to the network.
Step 2: The waiting room. Your transaction enters a shared waiting area called the mempool. Every node on the network keeps its own copy of this pool. Thousands of other transactions are waiting here too.
Step 3: A miner picks it up. Miners select transactions from the mempool and bundle them into a block — a batch of roughly 2,000 to 4,000 transactions. Miners choose which transactions to include, and they prefer the ones that pay higher fees.
Step 4: The block is added. The miner who wins the next proof-of-work race adds their block to the blockchain. Your transaction is now confirmed. From here, each new block added on top gives your transaction another confirmation — making it harder and harder to reverse.
Most people consider a transaction final after six confirmations, which takes about one hour. For small amounts, one or two confirmations are usually enough.
Fees: The Price of Priority
Bitcoin transaction fees do not work like bank fees. A bank might charge you a percentage of the amount you send. Bitcoin fees are based on how much space your transaction takes up in a block, not how much money you are moving.
This means you can send ten dollars or ten million dollars for the same fee. The typical fee is around one to two dollars, though it rises when the network is busy and drops when it is quiet.
Think of it like a postal service. You pay based on the size of the package and how fast you want it delivered — not based on what is inside.
- Low fee — Your transaction waits longer, possibly a few hours.
- Medium fee — Arrives within 30 to 60 minutes.
- High fee — Included in the next block, roughly 10 minutes.
Most wallets suggest a fee automatically. You rarely need to think about it.
How Is This Different From a Bank Transfer?
A bank transfer goes through one company. That company checks your balance, moves the money, and updates its own records. If the company freezes your account or goes offline, the transfer stops.
A Bitcoin transaction is verified by thousands of independent nodes around the world. No single company controls it. Once confirmed on the blockchain, no one can reverse it or freeze it.
The tradeoff is speed. A bank might show the transfer instantly, even though the actual settlement takes days behind the scenes. Bitcoin shows you exactly where your transaction stands — pending, confirmed, or final — in real time.
What’s Next
Now you know what happens when you send Bitcoin. To understand the system that records every transaction permanently, read What is the Bitcoin Blockchain?. If you are curious about how miners secure the network, check out What is Proof of Work?.
For faster, cheaper payments on everyday purchases, learn about the Lightning Network.