How to send Bitcoin in United States

Fee comparison

All-in cost per venue across the most-common payment + settlement paths. Verified 2026-06-02.

Regulatory framing — United States

The 'Travel Rule' (FinCEN's interpretation of FATF Recommendation 16) requires US virtual-asset service providers (VASPs) to exchange originator + beneficiary information for transfers ≥ $3,000 between regulated venues. Practically: when you send > $3K from one US venue to another US venue (or to a self-hosted wallet associated with a known KYC'd customer at another venue), the sending venue collects + transmits beneficiary information to the receiving venue. The Travel Rule does NOT apply to sends to your own self-custody wallet (no second VASP involved). Sending BTC is not itself a taxable event — only DISPOSALS are taxable. Sending BTC from your own venue wallet to your own self-custody wallet is a non-taxable transfer (no change in beneficial ownership). Sending BTC to ANOTHER PERSON as payment is potentially a taxable disposal at the BTC's fair-market value at send date, with capital-gains treatment on the difference between FMV and your cost basis.

Primary regulators: FinCEN · SEC · CFTC · IRS · OCC · State MTL

Common gotchas

• Network fee is paid in BTC, NOT USD. The dollar value of the fee floats with BTC price + network congestion. During high-congestion periods (typically driven by mempool spikes), the network fee can spike from $2 to $50+ in hours. Lightning Network sends are immune to this.
• Always send a SMALL TEST AMOUNT first. ~$5-$10 worth of BTC to verify the destination address is correct. Once an on-chain transaction has 6 confirmations, it is functionally irreversible. Bitcoin sent to a wrong/malicious address is unrecoverable.
• ADDRESS FORMAT MATTERS. Mainnet BTC addresses start with '1' (P2PKH legacy), '3' (P2SH compatibility), or 'bc1' (Native SegWit / Taproot). Lightning addresses look like '[email protected]' or are encoded as bolt-11 invoices (long alphanumeric starting with 'lnbc'). Sending Lightning to a mainnet address or vice versa fails — but some venues silently accept the wrong format then bounce back hours later.
• Some venues + wallets restrict outgoing sends to KYC-verified destinations only (the 'Travel Rule' implementation). If you're sending from Coinbase to a self-hosted wallet, Coinbase may require you to verify that you control the destination address. Bring a signed message from the destination wallet ready.
• If your destination address belongs to a sanctioned entity OR a flagged-by-blockchain-analytics-firm wallet, the sending venue may FREEZE the transaction or your account. Recovery is slow + paperwork-heavy. Verify destinations against the OFAC sanctioned-entity list before sending.

Step-by-step

1. Verify the destination address. Copy the destination address. Verify the FIRST 6 + LAST 6 characters match exactly with what the recipient gave you. Address-poisoning malware sometimes swaps clipboard contents — visual verification prevents the swap.
2. Pick the network (mainnet vs Lightning). For amounts > $50 to a permanent address (long-term hold, payment to a business): mainnet. For payments < $50 + speed matters: Lightning (if both sender + recipient support it). For internal sends within the same venue: use the venue's internal transfer (free, instant).
3. Set the fee level. Most venues auto-select. If you can choose: 'Low' = next ~24 hours confirmation, ~$1-$3; 'Medium' = next ~1 hour confirmation, ~$3-$8; 'High' = next ~10 minutes confirmation, $8-$30+. Check mempool.space for current realistic fee levels.
4. Execute a test send for new destinations. Send ~$5-$10 worth of BTC first. Wait for at least 1 confirmation. Verify it landed at the destination. Then send the rest. The $2-$5 test cost is cheap insurance against losing the full amount.
5. Wait for confirmations. 1 confirmation typically clears within 10-60 minutes (mempool-dependent). For amounts > $10K, wait for 6+ confirmations before considering the transaction final (typically 1-2 hours). Lightning sends are final on receipt (sub-second).
6. Track the disposal for tax purposes if it's a payment. Send to your own wallet = no tax event. Send as PAYMENT to another person/business = taxable disposal at BTC FMV on send date. Send to a charity = potentially a charitable deduction at FMV (subject to 30% AGI limit for long-term-held appreciated property donations). See /crypto-taxes-us/ for details.

Tax summary

Sending Bitcoin within your own custody (venue → self-hosted, self-hosted → self-hosted) is NOT a taxable event — no change in beneficial ownership. Sending Bitcoin as PAYMENT (to a friend, business, or any third party) IS a taxable disposal at BTC's fair-market value on send date. Capital gain/loss is computed against your cost basis. Charitable donations of long-term-held appreciated BTC qualify for a fair-market-value deduction (subject to AGI limits). See /crypto-taxes-us/ for the full framework.

Where to read further

• United States crypto tax primer
• Best crypto banks in United States
• Best crypto tax software for United States filers
• /how-to/buy-bitcoin-us/
• /how-to/sell-bitcoin-us/
• /how-to/swap-bitcoin-us/
• /best-crypto-wallets/
• /crypto-taxes-us/

Methodology

Fee data verified directly against each venue's public fee schedule on 2026-06-02. Regulatory framing cross-referenced against the Stage 1d info-layer + primary government sources (bsa-fincen, us-cftc-cea, us-fdic-12cfr330, us-state-mtl, ny-bitlicense, irs-1099-da-broker). Gotchas reflect operating experience + community-reported failure modes during the verification window. This page is editorial reference content — not financial, tax, or legal advice. Always verify the current state of each venue and the current law in United States before transacting.

Disclaimer

This page is general information, not financial, tax, or legal advice. Cryptocurrency regulation in United States evolves; verify the current rules with a qualified professional in your jurisdiction before relying on any specific approach. See terms.