r/BitcoinBeginners • • Apr 19 '20 Hooray Thanks Bravo

FAQ for Beginners

1.7k Upvotes

What is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is scarce, decentralized, and global digital money that cannot be censored.

  • Transactions once confirmed generally cannot be reversed

  • Less than 21 million Bitcoin will exist

  • Bitcoin is highly divisible to allow for micro-transactions (up to 13 decimal places in a payment channel)

  • Bitcoin is an open, collaborative project that no company or government controls belonging to the people

  • Bitcoin is more than just money, but a secure timestamping ledger, payment rail, and smart contract platform

Please read the Whitepaper for an general overview of bitcoin as designed

https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf


Quick Advice

  • Do not respond to strangers messaging you with investment advice or offers and read how to avoid being scammed from the posts below.

  • Do not invest in Bitcoin until you do basic research, paid off all high interest debt, and have a emergency savings account of a stable fiat currency.

  • If investing do not expect to get rich quickly. You should expect to wait at least 1-2 years before taking profits. Bitcoin is currently very volatile. In the interim spend and replace Bitcoin because its a useful currency.

  • Beginners should avoid all mining and day trading until at least very familiar with Bitcoin. Mining is very professional(You cannot efficiently mine with your computer and need to buy special ASIC machines) and most people lose money day trading. More info on mining : r/bitcoinmining

  • Never store your Bitcoins on an exchange or web wallet. Buy your bitcoins and withdraw it to your personal wallet where you actually own them instead of IOUs. Services like webull should be avoided because you cannot withdraw or use Bitcoin.

  • Make sure you make a backup of your wallet(software holding keys to your BTC) and preferably keep it offline and physical and private. Typically 12 to 24 words you write down on paper or metal. This onetime backup will restore all your keys, addresses , and Bitcoins on a new wallet if you lose your old wallet.

  • Beginners should avoid altcoins, tokens, and ICOs at least initially until they learn about Bitcoin. Most of these are scams and you should be familiar with the basics first. Bitcoin is referred to as BTC or XBT.


Exchanges Requiring ID Verification

Bitcoin = BTC or XBT on exchanges

ExchangeBuy fee*Withdraw BTCNotes
Cash AppSliding ~0.75% to 3%0Same day withdraw for free, USA only
Coinbase1-7%1-4 usd~7Day hold on withdrawing Bitcoin for ACH deposit
Coinbase Advanced trader1.20 % taker 0.6% maker and lower1-4 usd~7Day hold on withdrawing Bitcoin or €0.15 EUR SEPA fee
Gemini1.49% over 200usd for webnetwork fee
Gemini Active trader0.4% Taker 0.2% makernetwork fee
Kraken Pro0.25% maker 0.40% taker0.000015 BTC or Free LNDeposit Fiat=USwire+5USD or SEPA free
Bitcoin Well1%0USA and Canada
Coincorner1% for over 300network feeUK exchange, 2.5% for card/free uk bank deposit
Strike0.99%- 0.39% fees0Free DCA investing option

Note: Exchanges all have unique market prices and spreads so fees alone will not tell you the best rates. Best way is to directly compare the rates between exchanges. Buy fees above are for normal trading volumes. Verification and hold times can vary based upon lack of history, verification level or credit.

During bull markets when exchanges are extra busy it is normal to see very slow and poor customer support due to the amount of new clients and support tickets. We see many complaints due to this across all these exchanges. This is part of the reason this subreddit exists , to help answer questions for new users.

More exchanges per location

For a preferred way to buy Bitcoin without ID use a Decentralized Exchange (DEX) use https://bisq.network or https://learn.robosats.com/


Recommended Wallets

Tip: If you cannot afford using a hardware wallet use a recommended wallet in ios or android. Windows and macOS are less secure environments.

Best wallets for securing small amounts of BTC

Blue wallet Android and IOS and macOS

https://bluewallet.io/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9mq1a8bLbQ

electrum For Windows, MacOS, Linux and Android

https://electrum.org/

https://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNZdbYd8PUQ

Blockstream Wallet For Windows, macOS, Linux, IOS and Android

https://blockstream.com/app/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DesN85bWmGA

Best wallets for securing small amounts of BTC and sending lightning transactions

Breez LN wallet for Android and IOS

https://breez.technology

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_4b-y4T8bY

Or Blockstream wallet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtMXsJxx1X0

Or ZEUS

https://zeusln.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIohVX7PeAA

Or Phoenix

https://phoenix.acinq.co/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbtAmevYpdM

Other Lightning wallets - http://lightningnetworkstores.com/wallets

Lightning wallets are not intended for long term storage where you never open them for many months. They are intended for spending wallets that you regularly use.

Securing Larger amounts of Bitcoin

Trezor Safe 3 = ~59 USD https://trezor.io/trezor-safe-3-bitcoin-only

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWRI4VTHiuI

Trezor Safe 7 = ~249 USD https://trezor.io/trezor-safe-7-bitcoin-only

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWxAc8wzfFM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IkMKC-oq4E&lc=

Blockstream Jade = $79.99 https://store.blockstream.com/products/blockstream-jade-hardware-wallet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLFmd98mKNw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2VsgoFh78o

Blockstream Jade Plus = $149.00 to $169.99 https://store.blockstream.com/products/jade-plus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv_cN7F7-TM

BitBox02 Nova = $170 https://shop.bitbox.swiss/en/products/bitbox02-nova-79/?edition=bitcoin-only-edition

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D4FgJo3j64

Seedsigner ~80-100 dollars pre-assembled

https://seedsigner.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZqlIkJf0mA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1c5SR8v8l1M

Best Advanced Bitcoin Wallet= Sparrow

To link your hardware wallet to and run a full node.

Pros= Great privacy and security

Cons= UX is for more experienced users, takes ~week to sync and requires ~7GB minimum disk space if pruned. Only available in desktop so typically should be used with a hardware wallet

https://sparrowwallet.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSHyKTigNQY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJpvfRl03Tw


Further Resources

https://www.lopp.net/bitcoin-information.html

https://www.lopp.net/lightning-information.html

https://bitcoiner.guide

https://planb.academy/en/learn-anytime


r/BitcoinBeginners • • 1d ago

How I can start Bitcoin mining

7 Upvotes

r/BitcoinBeginners • • 23h ago

Why are 52k Binance charts going around tonight when Bitcoin never dropped below $63,270?

0 Upvotes

My cousin texted me a cropped chart swearing we just flash crashed to 52,000, so I pulled up the order book myself. Nearly gave me a heart attack.

Turns out main dollar pairs bottomed near 63,320 and regular euro pairs stayed above 57,500, while there's a tiny low-volume pair called BTCEURI sitting around 51,500. It's wild how fast one cropped ticker sets off panic in group chats.

Don't arbitrage bots close gaps on thin pairs right away, or is liquidity just dead on those?


r/BitcoinBeginners • • 3d ago

Why would someone swap their BTC to an intermediary coin before cashing out to U.S. dollars?

6 Upvotes

It seems counterproductive and, in my limited view, will introduce another taxable transaction as well as potentially reveal both the starting address and the ending address, there for making a more solid connection between the user and therefore reducing privacy. As well as introducing a level of needed trust in 3rd party who does the swap.

Direct BTC sale
BTC → USD
One taxable disposition

BTC through an intermediary
BTC → (intermediary coin) → USD
Two taxable dispositions

Why would people do this?
i would greatly appreciate your feedback.

Thank you so much.


r/BitcoinBeginners • • 5d ago Regret

My dad just told me he might have 500 Bitcoin somewhere on an old laptop he lost, I think I need therapy.

455 Upvotes

Yesterday I was telling dad abt Bitcoin. Just explaining what it is, how it works, and why people are so obsessed with t. And why they trust it.

Then he casually drops something that almost made me fall off my chair.

Apparently, back around 2011, he did some work for someone and might have been paid in Bitcoin. He doesn't remember the exact amount, but he thinks it could have been around 300 or 500 BTC

I laughed. because I thought he was joking. Then he told me he might actually have had a wallet on his old laptop.

Guess what? We can't find the laptop. I even searched on his personal stuff. I searched everywhere. obviously, nobody remembers the wallet password or recovery details.

So somewhere in this world, my dad might be sitting on a fortune, or he might just have the most expensive imaginary story ever told at the dinner table.

I asked mom about it and she said she doesn't know and remembers anything abt any BTC.

I've gone from explaining Btc to my dad to potentially needing a therapist because of BTC

I might start a new journey looking for that laptop.

While my father is just chilling. I'm going crazy. I can't hold my breath anymore.

My father thinks it's just 300 or 500 dollars. He keeps saying I'm making a big deal for just 500 dollars. Even tried to show him the charts. and explained to him how much it could worth rn. He just doesn't understand and he thinks im going crazy.


r/BitcoinBeginners • • 5d ago

Why do Bitcoin transactions need confirmations, and how many are actually enough?

16 Upvotes

I'm trying to understand how Bitcoin transactions work beyond simply sending BTC from one wallet to another.

I know that a transaction can show as "unconfirmed" before it gets included in a block, but I'm still not completely clear on what each confirmation actually means.

A few questions:

  • Does one confirmation mean the payment is already final?

  • Why do some services ask for 3 or 6 confirmations?

  • Is there a practical difference between waiting for 1 confirmation and waiting for 6 when sending a relatively small amount?

I'd appreciate a simple explanation or an example. I think this is one of those things beginners should understand before making their first transactions.


r/BitcoinBeginners • • 5d ago

Would it be realistic to accept BTC as payment for a used car?

6 Upvotes

Rather than a cup of coffee, let's take a costly thing like a car for several thousand €$£. Let's say I have some respectable hot wallet app on my phone, and Internet access.

If someone offered to pay me in BTC, how would I trust/verify that I am not getting scammed?


r/BitcoinBeginners • • 6d ago

What’s the most important thing a Bitcoin beginner should learn about wallet security?

12 Upvotes

I'm still learning about Bitcoin and trying to understand how to keep it safe.

There seems to be a lot to learn about wallets, private keys, seed phrases, hardware wallets, and backups.

For people who have been using Bitcoin for a while: what security advice would you give someone just getting started?

Is there a common mistake beginners should be especially careful to avoid?

I'd rather build good habits from the beginning than learn an important lesson the hard way.


r/BitcoinBeginners • • 6d ago

Complete beginner here, looking for a serious discussion about blockchain (no hype)

18 Upvotes

Hi everyone, I’m still very new to blockchain.

I’ve read a few explanations, but I’m still confused about what’s actually useful versus what’s just marketing. So I wanted to ask people who understand this better:

1.If explained as simply as possible, what problem does blockchain actually solve?

2.What’s the difference between blockchain and cryptocurrency? These two often get mixed up.

3.Are there any real use cases that are already running (not just plans or whitepapers) that you think are worth studying for beginners?

4.What are the most common mistakes people make when they’re first learning about blockchain?

I’m not looking for trading tips or projects that are pumping right now. I’m more interested in building a solid basic understanding. If anyone is willing to explain things in simple terms, I’d really appreciate it.

CMIIW.


r/BitcoinBeginners • • 6d ago

How to withdraw and sell crypto

3 Upvotes

I am under the age of 18 and I’ve been trying to buy and sell crypto. I’ve been off of watching some YouTube videos that have kind of helped me in the sense of buying crypto but I don’t know how to withdraw it. I keep on seeing people saying that I need like verification or like a parents to withdraw crypto I’ve been researching on this app called KYC not me and it’s kind of straightforward. It’s just ex exchanging crypto with some dude on PayPal from a different country and and that’s that’s kinda easy to me, but I don’t know the aspect of like withdrawing crypto into like money and stuff like that. I’ve heard that I need to like to like maybe sell sell crypto to somebody but I also I also don’t know how that works and I think I need verification to sell crypto stuff like that so I don’t know could you please help me?


r/BitcoinBeginners • • 9d ago

If bitcoin is money, why aren't people using it to pay for things?

59 Upvotes

I have never seen a button on a website to pay via bitcoin. Isn't that the point of bitcoin?

It seems like the only transactions are bitcoin to USD/EURO/Etc and vice versa. That's it.


r/BitcoinBeginners • • 8d ago

How to dca?

4 Upvotes

Some people said to set up a dca when i asked when to buy and sell, but i have no idea how


r/BitcoinBeginners • • 9d ago

How to know when to buy and sell

7 Upvotes

r/BitcoinBeginners • • 11d ago

Question for a bitcoin

6 Upvotes

I got refused and transaction by the people at stackatm and they were issuing me a refund they are asking my id is this normal?
It’s from [email protected] so it should be good but I am weary of sending my information but I also really need the money back


r/BitcoinBeginners • • 12d ago

Finally ready to buy my first BTC, but is it dumb to jump in right now with the midterms and the recent dip?

5 Upvotes

I have been reading up on Bitcoin for a few months and finally set aside about $1,500 that I am comfortable losing. I was originally planning to buy last week, then the whole Binance hack news dropped and the price slid down to around 76k-77k.

Part of me feels like buying this dip is a good entry point since October was pretty rough, but with the US midterm elections happening right now and everyone talking about ETF outflows, I have no idea if we are about to see a much bigger drop.

For someone starting from zero today, would you just throw the $1,500 in all at once at this price, or break it up into smaller weekly buys until the market calms down a bit.


r/BitcoinBeginners • • 13d ago

How can bitcoin store value if it could be replicated endlessly?

0 Upvotes

Bitcoin is the OG cryptocurrency, but beyond being first what makes it fundamentally special?

People point to its 21 million coin limit as proof of scarcity. However, scarcity alone doesn’t explain its value. Other cryptocurrencies could offer similar features, enforce their own supply limits, and potentially do the same things Bitcoin does.

Imagine a million identical Bitcoin networks: BTC1, BTC2, BTC3, and so on. Each has the same technology, the same 21 million coin limit, and the same functionality. Which one would have value? Why that one and not the others?

Gold is valuable partly because it is a naturally scarce physical resource. You can’t simply create another planet’s worth of gold by copying its underlying technology.

Bitcoin is different. Its supply is limited within its own network, but the technology itself can be replicated. It's like owning a finite piece of real estate on a planet where someone can create a million identical planets. The land on each planet is scarce, but what makes one planet's land more valuable than another's?

Bitcoin's scarcity is real within its network, but its value ultimately depends on people collectively agreeing that this particular network is worth owning. The question is whether being first, having the strongest network effect, and establishing the greatest trust are enough to sustain that value indefinitely.


r/BitcoinBeginners • • 14d ago

What is the safest way to store Bitcoin?

15 Upvotes

r/BitcoinBeginners • • 14d ago

Ordenador dedicado a btc

5 Upvotes

Utilizáis un pc destinado a BTC?.

Que configuración tenéis?


r/BitcoinBeginners • • 15d ago

Everyone dies

13 Upvotes

Since it has been said never to reveal to anyone your seed phrase, how are we going to pass the btc when we die?


r/BitcoinBeginners • • 15d ago

why BTC?

6 Upvotes

Could someone please explain to me why Bitcoin was developed and how it is supposed to benefit us?


r/BitcoinBeginners • • 15d ago

How best to store btc

30 Upvotes

Say someone gave u 5000 btc. U want to store it securely. How would u store it?

Edit: Just to clarify. Some replies thought I have 5000 btc. No, I don't. I'm asking the question to learn how does one store safely a large amt of btc. I want to know if the techniques used to store large amt differs from typical btc owners who have much smaller amt. For example, a reply mentioned ibit which I didn't know abt. I googled info on it n found out it is created by blackrock n the btc they buy, they don't keep the keys. They store at Coinbase custody.


r/BitcoinBeginners • • 15d ago

When we should start and stop buying Bitcoin according to 4 year cycle?

16 Upvotes

I heard many people which buy on ATH in 2021 and 2025 to complain about.


r/BitcoinBeginners • • 17d ago

Beginner about bitcoin

17 Upvotes

Moi from Finland.

i am really begginer about this. could anyone suggest me where i can read about bitcoin because i wanna invest and doing this for long term . thank you


r/BitcoinBeginners • • 20d ago

If someone finds your old Bitcoin address, can they see the rest of your wallet?

36 Upvotes

If you give someone a Bitcoin address to receive a payment, how much can they find out about your other transactions?

I understand they can look up that address. What I’m not sure about is whether they can also connect it to other addresses in the same wallet.

Does using a fresh address each time keep those payments separate, or can spending them together later link them again?

A simple example would help. Trying to understand what a new receiving address actually does for privacy.