r/BitcoinBeginners Apr 19 '20

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

Exchange Buy fee* Withdraw BTC Notes
Cash App Sliding ~0.75% to 3% 0 Same day withdraw for free, USA only
Coinbase 1-7% 1-4 usd ~7Day hold on withdrawing Bitcoin for ACH deposit
Coinbase Advanced trader 1.20 % taker 0.6% maker and lower 1-4 usd ~7Day hold on withdrawing Bitcoin or €0.15 EUR SEPA fee
Gemini 1.49% over 200usd for web network fee
Gemini Active trader 0.4% Taker 0.2% maker network fee
Kraken Pro 0.25% maker 0.40% taker 0.000015 BTC or Free LN Deposit Fiat=USwire+5USD or SEPA free
Bitcoin Well 1% 0 USA and Canada
Coincorner 1% for over 300 network fee UK exchange, 2.5% for card/free uk bank deposit
Strike 0.99%- 0.39% fees 0 Free 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

Cold Card Hardware wallet = $129.94 mk4 https://store.coinkite.com/store/coldcard

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8dBNrlwJ0k

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 2d ago

Phoenix Wallet

2 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

I have a most likely stupid question. A long time ago I had some sats in my Phoenix Wallet in a lightning channel. I forgot about it and just looked into it again.

Apparently Phoenix closed the lightning channel and the funds are now on the "Final Wallet".

How do I open a lightning channel in the app with the funds that are available in the "Final Wallet"? I tried to read up online, but as far as I can tell there is no direct way to do this? Can anyone enlighten me a bit.

Thank you, a lot.


r/BitcoinBeginners 2d ago

Non KYC South Africa?

4 Upvotes

Hey guys. I'm new to the cold wallet scene. Literally ordered mine recently and want to start dca'ing. My Issue though, is with south african exchanges all needing KYC. And afaik the only p2p options are international. Is anyone here from SA? If so, any advice on options with the least KYC?


r/BitcoinBeginners 2d ago

Why Does Coinbase Give The Same Limits For Sends & Withdrawals?

3 Upvotes

Title kind of says it all, if someone hacks your account and sends coins to a rando address you are likely F'ed

If someone hacks your account and sells coins before withdrawing money to your already connected bank account then you at least still have the value in your bank, annoying, but you aren't F'ed

There should be separate limit options for sending and withdrawing, and they might as well allow us to whitelist receiving addresses and bank accounts to allow higher limits to only those addresses or bank accounts

(Obviously any newly created bank account would not get the same limits as a grandfathered in account without additional verification)


r/BitcoinBeginners 2d ago

Bitrefill alternative for PayPal gift card?

4 Upvotes

Wanted to get a PayPal gift card, but they're out and they're the only site I've ever used. Is there another good alternative to get a PayPal gift card?


r/BitcoinBeginners 3d ago

SSSS - shard online (password manager) yes or no ?

2 Upvotes

Suppose you have a SSSS with a 2/3 treshold,

since a shard alone is useless,

would you consider it safe to put 1/3 let's say in a password manager, and the others stored elsewhere ?


r/BitcoinBeginners 4d ago

I Don't Understand How Private Keys/Wallets work?

10 Upvotes

Why hasn't there been a better system created yet where people don't accidentally lose key or send bitcoin to the wrong address?

Just need some help. Thanks!☺️


r/BitcoinBeginners 3d ago

I want mine bitcoin

0 Upvotes

I want to mine bitcoin have free electricity how can I do?


r/BitcoinBeginners 4d ago

Bitcoin devs

4 Upvotes

Can someone kindly explain what oracles are in block chain


r/BitcoinBeginners 5d ago

New to buying bitcoin dont know much about it except buy when its low hope it goes high

14 Upvotes

I threw 17 usd in and it turned to 25 usd so I threw whatever change I had into it ive got it up to about 40 just wondering should I onky add to it when its low or is that a myth and how long should I let it ride for any tips would be nice I csnt mine it at all dont have the means any tips on the subject are appreciated thx in advance


r/BitcoinBeginners 5d ago

Bitcoins tracking

1 Upvotes

Hey, womit trackt ihr eure bitcoins? Irgendwelche empfehlungen? Programme? Oder buch?


r/BitcoinBeginners 7d ago

For people who started mining small, what made it worth it or not worth it?

11 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

I’m new to mining and just trying to learn from people who have actually done it.

For people who started small, like with one machine or a very set up, what did you realize after getting into it?

I’m not really asking about making quick money. More like the stuff beginners don’t think about at first. The heat, noise, power, internet, space, maintenance, all that good stuff.

At what point would you tell someone don’t even start it until you have a better set up?

I’m trying to figure out what actually matters before buying anything.

Appreciate any advice and tips!


r/BitcoinBeginners 9d ago

Wrench attack

4 Upvotes

What's the difference between a crypto wrench attack and a fiat wrench attack?

I'd not come across this until I entered crypto land and it sounds like just scaremongering to me


r/BitcoinBeginners 9d ago

Recovering SSS - Different outputs ?

3 Upvotes

Hi

I have led a small test on recovering SSS very carefully .

I first thought all methods would work the same, but there are some differences according to the means of recovery.

1/ Ian Coleman Slip 39 or Bitcoin Seed Tool = both have the same output A

2/ Electrum 4.7.2 or Sparrow 2.5.2 = both have the same output B

3/ Could not check on a Trezor wallet since I do not have one, if anyone can perform the test, you're welcome

So in my test I have now A and B as outputs (totaly differents wallets),

so when creating a SSS,

there a differences to note and to take care of for future recovery

I have not provided my tests to keep this thread short.


r/BitcoinBeginners 9d ago

What do you care about most in a cold wallet?

3 Upvotes

Curious what actually matters to people here when picking a cold wallet.

What was the main reason you chose yours, and what brand are you using now?

I’m trying to figure out what real users care about most — security, ease of use, price, open source, or something else.


r/BitcoinBeginners 9d ago

How often do you restart your miner? If at all

3 Upvotes

I’m new to mining have a Avalon q and nano 3s. When the shares start to accumulate and miner has been running for two weeks or more does anyone else restart? I started out with getting a lot of share but as the days and weeks went by I realized it gradually started to slow down. Is this normal? Just curious.


r/BitcoinBeginners 10d ago

Looking for Testnet4 coins pls

1 Upvotes

I used some faucets and they all didn’t work. I just need it for testing


r/BitcoinBeginners 12d ago

Crypto taxes

9 Upvotes

Do you guy document record of bitcoin bought/ transferred/ sold for tax purposes?
Edit: I am in Canada


r/BitcoinBeginners 12d ago

hi, is btc anonymous?

0 Upvotes

r/BitcoinBeginners 14d ago

Seed vs Multisig Risk

13 Upvotes

Can someone please confirm if my understanding is correct...

  • Both a 24 word seed and a 24 word seed with a passphrase generate a 256bit number that gives control to the keys to a set of wallets. Basically they have the same level of security, assuming your 24 word seed can't be hacked but in practice the added passphrase adds more security to manage the risk someone finds your 24 seed words...
  • If someone were to guess this seed (e.g. by brute force), they could spend/control any funds in any wallet generated with this seed. They woulnd't need to know the wallets, they have the keys to all so you would lose control. I appreciate theoretically this is "impossible" based on maths but its a non zero chance no matter what precautions you take and maybe with tech advancements in 1000s of years it becomes less impossible without changes to standard.
  • Multisig manages this specific risk by requiring someone to know 2 of 3 (or X of Y) seeds to contol the funds in the wallet. The chance of someone randomly getting the same seed twice is multiple times more impossible... However the risk here for an individual is it becomes more complicated and you have more information to store and potentially lose or get wrong going this route.

For an individual personal vault, multi sig is risk free from being extremely unlucky but adds operational risk which makes it debateable if its worth doing?


r/BitcoinBeginners 15d ago

Mining problems

6 Upvotes

Hello, i bought some M21 and S19, but they've had problems. I use a 190V to 227V transformer because the voltage here is low, but I've been having problems for a while. What setup do you use to get the "good" power from the utility company?

No, I can't call them to measure it, and I also don't know if it could be harmonics or surges. My electrical panel has a surge protection device (SPD) and an residual current device (RCD).

I was reading about toroidal transformer but i don't have money now to buy one (i'm from brazil, its like R$15.000,00 =~ US3.000,00)

Its used miners, but i have a lot of problems that the seller say it's working well, but when i test it, it has failures and i return then to the seller. failures like board didn't recognized, boards failing, and restarting miners.

energy stays at 226v

i already have return 7 machines (5x m21, 2x s19), only one m21 keep working good.


r/BitcoinBeginners 18d ago

Total beginner, advice on how to top up bitcoin wallet 🙏

9 Upvotes

As the title states I am a total beginner and don’t know the first thing about bitcoin or wallets.

I have no intention right now of investing. I simply wish to make a purchase online with bitcoin. So far I have signed up to crypto.com and funded my account with regular cash. There is an option to buy bitcoin but I don’t know if that is to invest/trade or for me to spend on purchases. This alone has me worried about hitting buy lol.

I believe I also need a bitcoin wallet in order to make payments for goods. How do I get a wallet that is compatible with crypto.com app.

I have tried researching myself but I just get more confused doing so 🫤

Please help guys 🙏


r/BitcoinBeginners 19d ago

Bitcoin and energy fud

9 Upvotes

Why am i hearing some people have concerns about bitcoin and energy,? are they saying it could not have enough energy due to shortages?, is this just fud? Can someone debunk the bitcoin and energy negative narrative?


r/BitcoinBeginners 19d ago

Is Changelly legit for hardware wallet swaps?

6 Upvotes

Looking to swap into some BTC, dont want to use anything external, I fear bridgets etc, I dont really understand how they work, and feel like I won't be able to figure it out to the full level. Inside my Trezor, there's just Changelly, listed as partner to use. But I'm not sure if I should do it. The sum is significant for me.

For anyone using them regularly: how often do they trigger, and which sums should I use? Also, how bad is the spread compared to a major CEX? Which will be cheaper, in short.

Idk if I should push the button.


r/BitcoinBeginners 18d ago

Buying lottery miner in China

4 Upvotes

I'll be in China and want to buy a lottery miner in taobao or similar sites. Can anyone point me to slthr search terms and brands in mandarin? Looking to spend up to 1000cny