How To Send Money To The Bitcoin Wallet
A lot of people have gone through our training on how to make their first purchase of Bitcoin, and then how to use that Bitcoin to buy other specific altcoins.
Using crypto to buy and P2P services is coming though but currency conversion fees will apply. If you're paying in Crypto, it will be converted to fiat and sent to the recipient. Click on Send and select Bitcoin from the Currency drop-down menu. If you have multiple sub-wallets, you can choose the sub-wallet you want to send from in the From drop-down menu. In the To field, paste the recipient’s address OR scan the recipient’s QR code. Enter the amount you want to send. Add an optional description for your transaction.
But there is one last piece to this puzzle missing.
And that is how to add Bitcoin to your offline or hardware wallet.
This step is extremely important.
When you first buy any sort of cryptocurrency, you most likely are using an exchange to do so.
There are other ways to purchase Bitcoin, like using a Bitcoin ATM machine, but 99% of people will be using an exchange to get their hands on this digital gold.
But there is a risk to this.
The Risk Of Leaving Your Bitcoin On An Exchange
The risk is that you are leaving your Bitcoin open to attacks from hackers and thieves.
What you must understand is that when you sign up to an exchange, your account is associated with cryptocurrency public addresses.
This means that you have your own destination that you can share with others to send and receive Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
How to find your public address is pretty much the same for every exchange, so if you know how to find it on one, you’ll easily be able to find it on any other one.
So, as an example, here is how you find your Bitcoin public address on Binance:
You go to the top right corner and hover over “Funds.”
Then click “Balances”.
This then brings you to a page of all of the cryptocurrencies available for purchase on the exchange.
Assuming we want to know our Bitcoin public address, type in “Bitcoin” in the search bar.
Then click “deposit”.
Here is where your Bitcoin public address is.
If you bought Bitcoin through Binance, this is where your Bitcoin would be sent.
If you also bought Bitcoin on another exchange – let’s say Coinbase – and wanted to send it to Binance so you could purchase another cryptocurrency with it, this is the address you would copy and paste to do so.
But there is a problem with this.
The problem is that you only have access to this address: your PUBLIC address.
But you DO NOT have access to your PRIVATE address.
This is why you NEVER want to leave your cryptocurrencies on ANY exchange.
Think of your private address as the password to your bank account – if someone knows what it is, they can simply login in and drain your account.
I’m not saying that anyone at Binance has access to your private key, but what I AM saying is that your private key is stored online.
And YOU don’t even have access to it.
And this is a huge problem.
You should never store your Bitcoin, altcoins, or any other cryptocurrency in a wallet that stores its private key online.
Especially not an exchange wallet.
So what you have to do is deposit your Bitcoins into an offline (hardware) wallet.
The first step in doing so is to actually get yourself a hardware wallet.
Bitcoin Hardware Wallets That Are Safe To Deposit Your Funds
The 3 most popular, highly-praised hardware wallets in terms of safety in adding Bitcoin to are:
These wallets are top of the line and are the highest-security hardware wallets money can buy.
What Information Do I Need To Add Bitcoin To My Hardware Wallet?
Okay, so now you bought a hardware wallet.
Great!
The next step to secure your Bitcoin is to add it to your hardware wallet public address.
The wallet that I personally use is the Ledger Nano S.
So I will use this as an example.
Now, before we get into how to actually do this, let’s understand one thing:
Sending and receiving Bitcoin between wallet addresses is universally the same process.
What I mean by this is that depositing your Bitcoin from your Kucoin exchange wallet to your Trezor wallet is the same process as depositing Bitcoin from your Cex.io wallet to your KeepKey wallet, which is the same process as depositing your Bitcoin from your Coinbase wallet to your Ledger Nano S wallet.
This is because, in every instance, all you need are the same two pieces of information:
- Your login credentials
- The public address of the destination wallet
If you have both of these things, you can successfully add Bitcoin from your online wallet to your offline wallet.
Funding Your Bitcoin Account And Adding It To Your Wallet – The Entire Process
Now it’s time to figure this whole process out.
How do I go from having my money in hand, to buying Bitcoin with it, and then adding that Bitcoin to my wallet?
This is how you do it.
For this example, I’m going to use one of the most popular exchanges and one of the most popular hardware wallets.
We will be taking our Bitcoin from our online Coinbase wallet, and depositing it into our offline Ledger Nano S wallet.
1. Buy Bitcoin On Coinbase.
So, obviously, the first thing you have to do is actually buy the Bitcoin.
There are many places you can buy Bitcoin from, but for the purposes of this example, let’s say we use Coinbase.
We actually have a full, step-by-step walkthrough of exactly how to buy Bitcoin on Coinbase.
We will continue on, assuming you have gone and read this article.
2. Locate Your Ledger Nano S Public Address.
Now that we have actually made our Bitcoin purchase, it is now time to take it off of the exchange and place it in our safe, offline wallet.
To do this, we must find the public address of our hardware wallet.
For the Ledger Nano S, this how you find it:
Go to the Ledger Wallet website and download the Ledger Wallet Bitcoin & Altcoins.
Then, plug in your Ledger Nano S.
When you plug the Ledger Nano S into your computer, this screen will show up:
Here, it will ask you if your Bitcoin address is Segwit or Legacy.
For fear of going too far down the rabbit hole here, simply select “I don’t know” for now.
We will explain the difference between Segwit and Legacy addresses in a future article.
Next you will see this screen.
Click “receive.”
Here, it will display your public Bitcoin address.
This is the wallet address that you will be adding your Bitcoin to.
3. Fund Your Wallet By Depositing The Bitcoin To This Public Address
Now that you have the public address of your destination offline wallet, you have to go to Coinbase and send the Bitcoin to it.
Note that I have bought $100 worth of Bitcoin in order to show you how this transaction works (a little less because of the transaction fees and volatility).
On your Coinbase dashboard, go to “Accounts”.
You’ll see the total amount of Bitcoin in your Coinbase wallet on the left.
We want to send the Bitcoin from this wallet to our Ledger Nano S wallet.
Click “send”.
Here is where you copy and paste your Ledger Nano S public address.
Keep in mind that, as I said, this process is the same for all exchanges.
You simply find the specific cryptocurrency you are trying to fund your offline wallet with, and then click either “send” or “withdraw”.
Most exchanges actually saw “withdraw”.
But the option is the same.
Two areas typically pop up when you do this:
- The destination public address
- The amount you are sending
That’s all the information your have to put it.
How To Send Money Through Bitcoin Wallet
You just need to know the public address of the wallet you are funding, and the amount you wish to send.
In this case, I’m just going to send the entire amount.
Click “continue”.
4. Confirm This Transaction Via Email
Depending on the exchange, there may be a verification email sent to you in order to confirm this transaction.
This is simply an added security feature in order to make sure it is actually you that is sending the money.
Once you find this email and click “confirm”, the transaction is final.
Now all you have to do is wait for the funds to be added to your wallet!
This can take anywhere from a couple minutes up to an hour.
So don’t freak out or stress if you don’t see your wallet funded right away!
The funds are on their way and will be deposited shortly.
If you prefer video, here is a great video detailing the steps of transferring bitcoin between wallets:
Adding Bitcoin To Your Wallet: Closing Remarks
And that’s it!
You have officially sent, received, and successfully funded your Bitcoin wallet!
That wasn’t so hard, was it?
Admittedly, I was on the edge of my seat the first time I did it, too.
With this whole world being so new to me at the time, it took a while for me to actually summon the courage to actively send my Bitcoin from one place to another.
But after the first few times, I got used to it.
And you will, too!
Just be sure to take your time and follow this guide step-by-step.
Before you know it, you will have safely added your Bitcoin to your offline wallet!
Good luck!
You may have just downloaded your first Bitcoin wallet, but now want to know how to add coins to it.
Doing your first transfer from an exchange to a wallet can be intimidating for first timers.
Not to worry! In this short guide, we will show you how to add coins to your Bitcoin wallet. Once you are finished you’ll be a pro at this very common process.
By the end, you’ll see how easy it is to send and receive Bitcoins from anyone you want!
But first, in case you haven’t got a wallet yet, check out our picks below:
Our Top Picks
Best Wallet For
Best for Security
Ledger Nano X
How To Send Money To The Bitcoin Wallet Login
Secure storage for any cryptocurrency
Visit WebsiteThe Ledger Nano X is the newest crypto hardware wallet, and is very easy to use. It connects to iOS, Android & desktop.
Best for Mobile
BRD
Easy to use iOS & Android wallet
Learn MoreBRD is an easy-to-use iOS and Android Bitcoin wallet. It's available on both iOS and Android.
Best for Desktop
Electrum
Simple yet powerful desktop wallet
Learn MoreElectrum is a Bitcoin-only wallet that has been around since 2011. It's easy to use, but has advanced features.
On a technical level, your wallet is more like a window onto the Bitcoin network that you control with your own electronic private keys. Whether you use a super secure hardware wallet like the Ledger Nano X, a convenient mobile app like the BRD wallet or an old school favorite Electrum you’ll need to be sure to keep your private keys safe.
I have a wallet, do I have to buy a whole bitcoin?
It’s a common misconception to think that you need to buy one whole bitcoin at a time. These days, that would be quite an expensive endeavour. You can check out the current price of one bitcoin, here.
Instead, the inventor of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, made it possible to divide one bitcoin into 100,000,000 pieces.
QUICK TIP
One bitcoin is divisible to 8 decimal places and you can own as little as 0.00000001 bitcoin. In reality, most places where you can buy bitcoin allow you to spend as little as $5 at a time.
In 2010 an early member of the bitcointalk community, ribuk, proposed the name ‘satoshi’ for the smallest unit of a bitcoin, and the name stuck. In recent years it’s become common to use the phrase “stacking sats” for buying and holding small amounts of bitcoin in order to periodically accumulate more of the coin.
The best place to buy your first bitcoin is on an exchange
Wallets themselves tend not to give you the option to buy and sell bitcoin for fiat. So, you’re going to have to find a trustworthy and low-cost exchange, and then send the coins from the exchange to your wallet.
- Bits of Gold
- Crypto exchange based in Tel Aviv
- Buy with card, cash or bank transfer
- Supports Bitcoin & Ethereum
- eToro
- Start trading fast; high limits
- Easy way for newcomers to get bitcoins
- Your capital is at risk.
- Luno
- Best for Nigeria, South Africa, Indonesia, Malaysia
- East to use interface
- Trusted exchange
- Coinbase
- High liquidity and buying limits
- Easy way for newcomers to get bitcoins
- 'Instant Buy' option available with debit card
- Bitbuy
- Exchange based in Canada
- Very high buy and sell limits
- Supports Interac & wire
- Netcoins
- Crypto exchange based in Canada
- Many payment methods available
- Get $10 CAD upon making $100+ in trades
- Coinberry
- Crypto exchange based in Canada
- Very high buy and sell limits
- Supports credit & debit card, Interac, wire
- eToro
- Supports Bitcoin, Ethereum & 15 other coins
- Start trading fast; high limits
- Your capital is at risk.
This ad promotes virtual cryptocurrency investing within the EU (by eToro Europe Ltd. and eToro UK Ltd.) & USA (by eToro USA LLC); which is highly volatile, unregulated in most EU countries, no EU protections & not supervised by the EU regulatory framework. Investments are subject to market risk, including the loss of principal.
An ideal fiat cryptocurrency exchange for people just getting started is Coinbase. For the following reasons:
- It has the most simple and easy to use user interface
- It’s quck to get verified so you can buy bitcoin almost instantly
- There are great mobile apps for Android and iPhone
- Coinbase is a regulated and FDIC insured exchange
Three important factors for choosing which exchange is the right choice for you are reputation, fees and speed:
Reputation
It’s sad to say, but a lot of exchanges in the past turned out to be scams. That means the longer an exchange has been around, building up a positive reputation, the less likely it is to be a bad actor in the space.
You can also check if the exchange is regulated in your part of the world. We reviewed the top exchanges we would recommend, here.
Fees
Another important factor in choosing the right exchange to fund your bitcoin wallet is to compare how much they will charge for converting your fiat to bitcoin.
On average the fees for credit card purchases are around 4%. If you send your money via bank transfer you usually save on fees and can expect to pay somewhere between 1 and 1.5%.
Speed
Finally it’s important to look at how quickly will you be able to buy and then receive your coins. It’s interesting to note that a lot of the problems connected with how quickly you can fund your Bitcoin wallet, are actually due to the slowness of the legacy financial systems, and not cryptocurrency itself.
However, it’s a good idea to look at waiting times and withdrawal limits for the purchasing method of your choice as it’s never a good feeling to be caught out by these kind of factors when you want to buy some Bitcoin in a hurry.
Credit card purchases are usually quicker than bank transfers, but they come at a higher cost.
WARNING
Do NOT get comfortable leaving your cryptocurrency on an exchange. Ideally you should send your money to an exchange, purchase your crypto, and then withdraw the coins immediately to a secure hardware wallet like the Ledger Nano X.
COMPARISON
Ledger Nano X
- SCREEN:
- RELEASED: 2019
- PRICE: $119
Ledger Nano S
- SCREEN:
- RELEASED: 2016
- PRICE: $59
TREZOR T
- SCREEN:
- RELEASED: 2018
- PRICE: $159
TREZOR One
- SCREEN:
- RELEASED: 2013
- PRICE: $59
How to withdraw to your wallet
The first few times you withdraw to a bitcoin wallet it can feel a bit nerve wracking. You do need to be careful and ensure that you follow the steps carefully. Wallets that have modern user interfaces and easy to follow step by step processes will help reduce the chance of you making a mistake.
The most important thing is to make sure that the wallet address you send your bitcoin to, the long string of numbers and letters, is correct. If you send your bitcoin to a different address by accident there is no way of getting your money back. So be careful.
As an example, if you are withdrawing from your Coinbase account to your Ledger Nano X you would follow these steps:
Select send BTC on Coinbase and enter the amount of BTC you want to send. You can send as little or as much as your BTC as you wish, but be aware that each withdrawal will have a fee. Once you are comfortable sending and receiving bitcoin it is worth learning a little more about transaction fees and how you can minimize the costs.
Send from coinbaseLog in to your Ledger Live account and follow the instructions to copy your wallet address so that you can input it in Coinbase as the receiving address.First you must connect and unlock your Ledger, then open the Bitcoin app on your device.
Next, check the Bitcoin address that is showing on your device. It should be your Bitcoin wallet address, and nobody elses.
Verify your Bitcoin addressUse the app to copy the address from Ledger Live, or scan the QR code that shows in Ledger live
From your Coinbase account. Double check the address by sight to ensure Coinbase is sending the bitcoin to your wallet address.
Copy the address to Coinbase
How long will it take till my bitcoin arrives?
That depends. If you get into the next block, you Bitcoin will arrive in your wallet within about 10 minutes.This is the time it takes to get one confirmation on the Blockchain.
Typically you should wait 3-6 confirmations before you can be sure your bitcoin has arrived safely.
1 confirmation can be enough if you are sending less than $1000. Each confirmation is a block in the Bitcoin blockchain with your transaction recorded accurately.
These blocks are created about every ten minute by the Bitcoin miners. The miners verify the blocks and get rewarded with Bitcoin for their work.
Once the transaction has confirmed a few times, you can relax and be certain that you have added the funds correctly.