A transaction is a record of crypto moving from one party to another. It states where the coins come from, where they go and how much is sent. The sender signs the transaction with their private keyPrivate keyA secret number that proves you own the crypto in your wallet. Whoever holds the private key controls the crypto., and the signature proves that the sender controls the coins.
What happens when you send a transaction?
- Your wallet creates the transaction and signs it.
- The transaction is broadcast to the network. There it waits, along with other unconfirmed transactions, to be included in a BlockBlockA batch of transactions added to a blockchain in one go, together with a reference to the block before it..
- Once it is in a block, it has its first ConfirmationConfirmationA sign that a transaction has been included in a block; each new block added on top counts as one more confirmation and makes it more secure.. Each new block makes it more secure.
Every transaction carries a network feeNetwork feeA fee paid to a crypto network, not to a bank or company, for including your transaction in a block.. The higher the fee, the sooner the transaction usually gets included.
An example
On the Bitcoin network, a transaction works a bit like paying with banknotes. Say you hold 0.05 bitcoin that arrived in a single deposit, and you want to send 0.01. The transaction uses the whole 0.05, sends 0.01 to the recipient and returns the rest, minus the fee, to you. It is like getting change when you pay with a large note.
What to keep in mind
A confirmed transaction can't be reversed, and no bank can claw it back. All transactions are public, and anyone can look them up in a block explorerBlock explorerA website where anyone can look up transactions, wallet addresses and blocks on a blockchain., although no names appear there.
Everything in Myntkaup Learn is written and regularly reviewed by the Myntkaup editorial team. It is for education and is not investment advice. Editorial policy. Updated 18 October 2026.