How do you send and receive crypto?

Receiving crypto means giving the sender your wallet address. Sending it means entering the recipient's address in your wallet, choosing the network and amount, and approving the transaction. The network then confirms the transfer, usually within seconds or minutes, and it cannot be reversed.

How do you receive crypto?

Open the wallet or exchange account, select the coin and choose "receive" or "deposit." The app displays a wallet address, a string of letters and numbers that identifies the destination, along with a QR code. That address goes to the sender. Sharing it is safe, since an address can only be used to pay in.

The sender also needs to know which network to use. Many tokens exist on more than one blockchain, and the two sides must match.

How do you send crypto?

A typical transfer runs in this order:

1. Choose the coin and select "send" or "withdraw."
2. Paste or scan the recipient's address.
3. Select the network, if the coin is offered on several.
4. Enter the amount.
5. Review the network fee and the total.
6. Confirm. A self-custody wallet signs the transaction with its private key, the secret number that authorizes spending. An exchange usually asks for a security code.

The transaction is then broadcast to the network and waits to be included in a block, a batch of transactions added to the blockchain.

What are fees and confirmations?

Every transfer pays a network fee to the miners or validators who process it. The fee rises when the network is busy and is charged in the chain's own coin. Sending a token on Ethereum, for example, requires some ether to cover gas fees. Exchanges may add a withdrawal charge of their own, one of several costs that apply to moving crypto.

A confirmation is counted each time a new block is added on top of the one containing the transaction. Each one makes the transfer harder to undo. Exchanges wait for a set number before crediting a deposit, which is why funds can show as "pending" for a while.

Why can't a transfer be reversed?

A blockchain has no central operator to cancel a payment or issue a chargeback. Once confirmed, a transfer can be returned only if the recipient chooses to send it back. Coins sent to a mistyped address, an incompatible network or a scammer are usually gone.

The common errors are simple ones: copying the wrong address, choosing a network the recipient does not support, leaving out a memo or tag that some exchanges require, and pasting a look-alike address planted by a scammer, a trick known as address poisoning.

For this reason, many experienced users check the full address character by character and send a small test amount before a large transfer. The cost is a second fee and a few minutes.