Learn how to securely send ethereum

Sending ETH is a simple matter of entering the address you want to send to and the amount to send.

Here's what a typical Ethereum address looks like:

0xab41b92c6d43f4b7a670b65479f5bb809646602e

Here are detailed instructions for sending ETH using the multi-chain Bitcoin.com Wallet:

1. From the app's home screen, select the ETH wallet you want to send your transaction from. Eg. "My ETH Wallet".
2. You should now see information for that wallet, including its balance and transaction history. Tap the "Send" (paper airplane) icon.
3. Enter the ETH address you wish to send to. You can paste the address from your clipboard in the space at the top, select the "Scan a QR code" option, send to an address you've previously saved, or send to another of your own ETH wallets within the Bitcoin.com Wallet.
4. Having entered an address to send to, on the next screen you'll enter the amount you want to send. Note that you can enter the amount to send in either ETH terms or local currency terms. Tap the up/down arrows to toggle between the two modes. When you're ready, tap "Continue" to proceed to the final send screen.
5. The final step is to slide the bar to complete the send. Before sliding the bar, review your transaction to ensure all the details are as intended. Note: the fee for sending is also displayed on this screen, and you do have the option to customize your fees.

Having slid the bar to complete your send, you'll be presented with a summary of your transaction. You'll see the amount sent (displayed in both local currency terms and ETH terms) and the address sent to. You'll also see the status of the transaction (pending or confirmed). Tapping on the 'transaction hash' will take you to etherscan.io, where you can see the complete details of your transaction.

Check the "Save Address" button to save this address to your address list. Tap "Share" to send a report of this transaction wherever you want (for example, to the receiver). Finally, you have the option to add a personal note to this transaction. This can act as a reminder to yourself. For example, "The money I owed to Lisa for dinner".

Read more: Learn how to receive ethereum securely.

What’s the Ethereum network fee?

Network fees were initially used as a way to deter people from flooding the network with transactions. While that original use still exists, it is mostly a way to incentivize miners or validators to add transactions to the next block.

Many Bitcoin wallets (including the Bitcoin.com Wallet) allow you to customize the Bitcoin network fees you pay when you send bitcoin.

Bitcoin transactions incur a small fee which is paid to the miners that confirm them. Transactions with higher fees attached to them are picked up sooner by miners (who optimize for profitability), so higher-fee transactions are more likely to be included in the next batch, or 'block,' of transactions that's added to the Bitcoin blockchain. This means you can opt for faster transaction processing by paying a higher fee. Alternatively, if you're not in a rush to have your transaction confirmed, you can save money by opting for a lower fee. However, you need to be careful because if you set the fee too low, your transaction may take hours or get stuck for days. Don't worry though, you're never in danger of losing bitcoin by setting the fee too low. In the worst case, you'll have to wait 72 hours with your bitcoin in limbo until the transaction is cancelled, at which point you'll again have access to it.

How are Ethereum fees determined?

Crypto fees are determined with minor differences blockchain to blockchain. As a general rule, there will be a base fee priced by the amount of data in the transaction. Transactions that require more data to execute will have a higher base fee. On top of that, people can manually add extra to help get their transaction included in the next block.

In Ethereum, transactions cost gas to execute. Gas is paid in ether (ETH), Ethereum’s native currency. However, the price is denoted in gwei, which is equal to 0.000000001 ETH, because it is more human readable to say a transaction cost 5 gwei than 0.000000005 ETH.

Why are some crypto transactions more expensive than others?

As stated in the above answer, blockchain transactions are in part determined by the amount of data in the transaction. The more data necessary to complete a transaction, the greater this part of the cost will be. For example, on the Ethereum network, transferring a token from one address to another is a much simpler, and therefore smaller, transaction than minting an NFT.

The above simple example is easy to understand, but there can be pronounced differences between like transactions too, and this requires a more technical explanation. Let’s imagine Alice and Bob both send 1 ETH each to Carol at approximately the same time. Alice’s transaction fee is 100 gwei and Bob’s is 100,000. How is that possible?

Alice bought her ETH in two 0.5 amounts. Her wallet total is 1 ETH, but the two halves will have originated from different ‘notes.’ In effect, this means Alice has two 0.5 notes in her wallet. When Alice sent Carol 1 ETH, she actually sent those two notes. More notes means more data.

Bob received his 1 ETH in one hundred 0.1 ETH increments, or 100 notes. When Bob sent Carol his 1 ETH, it was actually 100 notes, which required significantly more data.

How do I set the network fee in my crypto wallet?

This, again, depends on the wallet. In fact, many web wallets (cryptocurrency exchanges) don't give you any control over the network fee whatsoever. Instead, they have a predetermined fee (which is almost always set higher than the actual fees the exchange will pay). In other words, the exchange profits when their customers withdraw cryptocurrency. This is a common revenue-generation strategy for cryptocurrency exchanges.

Most self-custodial wallets, however, allow you to customize the fee you attach to your crypto transactions. The Bitcoin.com Wallet, for example, has three convenient fee settings for Bitcoin and Ethereum, as well as the option to set custom fees.

Here’s an example of how to adjust Ethereum (ETH) network fees in the Bitcoin.com Wallet:

If you’re setting custom fees, which is only recommended for advanced users, you’ll want to use a tool like Etherscan’s Gas Tracker to ensure you’re choosing an appropriate fee given the current state of network congestion.

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