How to Send and Receive Cryptocurrency? | Transacting with Crypto for Beginners

How to send and receive crypto, like many subjects covered in our Beginner Guides, is a relatively simple thing that can oftentimes dissuade participation due to misconceptions. Making it important for you to understand that transacting on a blockchain network is just like any other exchange of money. Only that on decentralized networks, there’s no middle-man or third party to mediate each transaction. Instead, the network itself verifies each transfer from one person to another. In the case of Bitcoin, several times per hour Bitcoin is updated with the account balances of everyone on the network. This is made possible through Proof of Work, considered to be the most secure way of updating blockchains. Each network has different methods of updating, securing, and transferring assets between accounts. The end result remains the same. It’s simply moving funds from one account to another and verifying those funds have indeed been moved.

When you send and receive crypto, whether it be Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Polkadot, Cardano, Avalanche, Cosmos, or any other cryptocurrency we’ve released guides for. You’ll need to make sure that you remain on that network when learning to send & receive cryptocurrency. This means that you can only send Bitcoin to another Bitcoin account or receive Bitcoin from another Bitcoin wallet. If you try to send Bitcoin to an Ethereum wallet address, any funds you send will be lost forever. This makes it important that you pay attention to the network you’re using when sending or receiving funds. Some wallets have features that will notify the user when an incompatible address has been entered. But, it’s still the responsibility of the user to verify the correct wallet address. Even when using a centralized exchange, seeding funds to an incompatible address will result in their loss. Once you’re comfortable with the ability to Send & Receive on multiple networks, you can learn how to make a cross-chain transaction using a blockchain bridge.

To remove any confusion you may have about Sending and Receiving digital assets. Here’s a quick guide to illustrate how easy the process can be on some of the most commonly used mobile wallets and exchanges available. 

On Coinbase all you’ll need to do is choose the “Assets” tab in the Coinbase App. This will show you a list of available assets in your account. To send or receive on Coinbase click the asset you would like to transfer. For this example, I’ve chosen Tether $USDT. Scroll down after choosing your asset to see the current wallet balance. Click on this balance and your wallet will open providing you the options to send & receive crypto by using either the “Barcode” or “Arrow” icons.

Binance is even easier to send & receive your favorite crypto with. Simply choose the “Wallet” icon in the center bottom of the screen. Then choose whether you would like to send or receive crypto.

With Crypto.com you’ll need to click on the “Accounts” tab at the bottom of the app. Once you’ve done this you’ll receive a pop-up at the bottom of your screen. Choose the desired option to complete your transaction. 

For transactions on Bitpay, all you need to do is click on the “Arrows” icon at the bottom center of the app. This will take you to the following screen that will allow you to send and receive crypto on Bitpay.

Since BlueWallet is a Bitcoin-only app. It’s the easiest to send & receive Bitcoin with. Once you open your BlueWallet, you’ll be greeted with the option to receive & send Bitcoin at the bottom of the screen as shown above.

As you can see from these examples it doesn’t take a lot of time to get comfortable sending & receiving funds using blockchain technology. While each application you use will slightly modify this process, these minor differences should no longer dissuade you from trying a new wallet or exchange. If you know how to use one wallet, you can effectively use them all. If you’d like to learn more about using a specific application or wallet? Make sure to check out the rest of our Beginner Guides for easy-to-follow detailed walkthroughs.