Find answers to your Bitcoin questions

No. Once a Bitcoin transaction is confirmed on the blockchain, it cannot be reversed by a bank, support team, or network operator. Always double-check addresses, amounts, and fees before sending bitcoin.

Bitcoin transactions are recorded on a public ledger, so transaction amounts and address activity can be analyzed. Addresses do not automatically display a person's name, but activity may be linked to an identity through exchanges, services, address reuse, or other information.

A custodial wallet relies on a company or service to control the keys on your behalf. A non-custodial wallet gives you control of the keys and responsibility for protecting the backup. The tradeoff is usually convenience versus direct control.

Bitcoin works through a network of computers called nodes. Nodes share and verify transactions, while miners group valid transactions into blocks. Each block is added to the blockchain after miners perform proof-of-work, making the history difficult to alter.

Bitcoin transaction fees are payments users attach to transactions so miners will include them in a block. Fees rise when many people are trying to send transactions at the same time and fall when network demand is lower.

If you still have access to the wallet, create a secure new backup or move the funds to a new wallet whose recovery information you control. If the wallet is lost or damaged and no valid backup exists, there is generally no support desk that can restore access.

A Bitcoin address is a shareable destination used to receive bitcoin. A wallet creates addresses from cryptographic keys. You can share an address or its QR code with a sender, but you should always verify it carefully before a payment is sent.

A confirmation means a transaction has been included in a mined block. Each new block added after it provides another confirmation and makes the transaction increasingly difficult to reverse. The appropriate number of confirmations depends on the amount and the receiver's risk policy.

A Bitcoin node is software that checks transactions and blocks against the network's rules and shares valid data with peers. Running your own full node lets you verify Bitcoin activity directly instead of relying entirely on another service.

A Bitcoin wallet is software or hardware that helps you manage your bitcoin keys and create transactions. The wallet does not actually store coins inside it. Your bitcoin remains on the blockchain, and your keys let you spend it.

A private key is secret cryptographic information that allows a wallet to authorize spending. Anyone who obtains the private key can usually spend the bitcoin it controls, so it should never be shared or stored in an insecure place.

A satoshi, often shortened to sat, is the smallest unit commonly used in Bitcoin. One bitcoin contains 100 million satoshis, which makes it possible to send and account for amounts much smaller than one whole bitcoin.

A seed phrase is a list of words that can restore access to a Bitcoin wallet. Anyone who has your seed phrase can control the bitcoin in that wallet, so it should be kept private, offline, and backed up carefully.

Bitcoin is a digital form of money that runs on a decentralized network instead of a bank or government. People can send, receive, and hold bitcoin directly using wallets, while the network verifies transactions through a public ledger called the blockchain.

Bitcoin mining is the process of using specialized computers to secure the network, verify transactions, and add new blocks to the blockchain. Miners compete to solve proof-of-work, and the winning miner earns newly issued bitcoin plus transaction fees.

The Bitcoin halving is an event that cuts the new bitcoin miners receive per block in half. It happens about every four years and is part of Bitcoin's fixed supply schedule, which limits the total supply to 21 million bitcoin.

A mempool is a node's collection of valid, unconfirmed transactions waiting to be included in a block. Nodes can have slightly different mempools because transactions arrive at different times and node policies can differ.

The Lightning Network is a payment network built on top of Bitcoin. It allows participants to make fast, low-value payments through payment channels while using the Bitcoin blockchain for settlement and security.

Bitcoin's rules define a decreasing issuance schedule and a maximum supply of 21 million bitcoin. Full nodes independently enforce those rules when validating blocks, so a miner cannot create extra bitcoin that violates the agreed supply schedule.

Reusing an address makes it easier for observers to connect separate payments and estimate related balances. Most modern wallets create a fresh receiving address automatically. Using a new address for each payment improves privacy without changing who controls the wallet.