Bitcoin Forum

It's my pleasure to be a member of this forum. I've tried my best to read and comprehend the rules and regulations. I've found that this forum is a pleasure, where people come together to share positive knowledge and information.
  As someone with little technical experience in bitcoin has become a member of this forum, i want to know more about how bitcoin wallet is operated?

You can read this thread for more information on wallets
[General] Bitcoin Wallets - Which, what, why? (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1631151.0)
As a newbie, it is good you use a noncustodial wallet like Electrum wallet, Blue wallet to learn more by praticals. Download wallets from their official sites to avoid you downloading a clone wallet from scammers. The important thing in a wallet is the seed phrase and you are to write it down with three backups and keep it safe from anyone seeing it. Your three seed phrase backups would be kept in tgre different locations very far from each other.

There is a prerequirement and that is to know what the official site is and even when downloading from the correct website, you still cannot and should not trust the binary files you downloaded until you verify their authenticity by performing a signature verification.

This topic is helpful to learn how to do it for Electrum and in general for any file that provides signatures.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5240594.0

After you have setup your wallet, you will only be giving the address to people that wants to send you coins. Do not let anyone know about your seed phrase or private key. If anyone knows about your seed phrase or private key, the person can use it to steal your coins.

I recommend Electrum, Sparrow, Bluewallet and Unstoppable for bitcoin. For more coins, I recommend Matamask and Unstoppable.

You can also read these:
https://electrum.readthedocs.io/en/latest/coldstorage.html
Open Source Hardware Wallets (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5288971.0)

You're welcome! Your question is not clearly stated to get a perfect answer. What exactly do you want to know about wallet or what do you mean by how wallet operate?

Talking about how wallet operate comprises of many aspects including the software, storage, private and public key. It can also be about transaction creation and broadcasting.

If you are talking about which wallet to use or how to use and why, sim_card already share a link to thread where it was discussed. By the way, if you have a little technical knowledge about bitcoin, wallets and how it operates should not be new to you.

Non custodial is good but not enough, a good wallet needs to be open source too and you can check that wallet is open source or close source with
https://walletscrutiny.com/

The paranoid user's security guide for using Electrum safely. (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5456886.0)

How to back up a seed phrase (https://blog.lopp.net/how-to-back-up-a-seed-phrase/)

I think that the OP is asking specifically for practical info on how to use a bitcoin wallet. Although each wallet is slightly differently operated, and Charles-Tim already answered you with the most important fundamentals, I think the the best way to learn how bitcoin wallets are operated is making little transactions (to yourself maybe?) when fees are low. With a little more practice you can try signing them or (most importantly) coin control, but as a newbie don't be afraid to learn by doing, with small amounts of course, just in case ;D.

By the way, did you pay the fee before you were allowed to become a member? ;D

Which coin wallet you are asking about here I know a few wallets that are easy to use.  For Bitcoin, I would suggest an Electrum wallet available for both desktop and mobile. It is not that simple to understand but it will be as you use it. The next wallet is the Trust wallet as it has a good reputation while handling multiple cryptocurrencies it is one of the favorites for everyone who is using altcoins on the BSC chain. Metamask is the wallet that is for you if you want to store Ethereum or its tokens. Phantom wallet is best for anyone interested in the Solana blockchain and its token.

I can continue with all those wallets but it is your job to do the research and find out which wallet is best for you. You must know that not every software wallet gives you the keys to your wallet as similar to an exchange wallet. Therefore only use wallets which allow you to backup and give you the ability to store your private key otherwise you will lose your coins.

After going through some of the suggested means through which you can learn to know the best required wallet you need and how it can serve your purpose or need, i will also like to drop you with some few links on how to get some of the best reputable bitcoin wallet as recommended,

Here are some wallets for security and privacy with their reference link embedded for download.

Bitcoin Core (https://bitcoincore.org/en/download/)
Passport (https://foundationdevices.com/passport/)
Electrum (https://electrum.org/)
Sparrow (https://sparrowwallet.com/) Bluewallet (https://bluewallet.io/)

For a complete beginner I won't suggest HW, because it seems more complicated so I don't want them to be confused even before starting with.

Bitcoin core too, which may needs huge amount of resource and a lot of time and data to initial sync so I suggest something simple like Electrum for desktop and for smartphone blue wallet.

If he is looking for multi crypto wallet then unstoppable wallet is also on the table.

Why not? If you see a good hardware wallet, not bad to recommend it. But you will let the newbie know that not all that are recommended that is advisable but depending on the his or her choice. I prefer to recommend airgapped device instead.

I can also recommend Electrum for mobile just like I can recommend Bluewallet for mobile. Both wallets have almost exactly the same features. But Electrum mobile is lighter to load than Bluewallet.

You've gotten a lot recommendations on how you can get a bitcoin wallet running but i would love to add in addition to the recommedations, though you should also see it when you're going through some links recommended but for quick grasp.. If you are thinking of using a wallet like Electrum,sparrrow,...wallets that provides multiple addresss forselection then try as much as possible to be using single Address for every receive, it's good for your privacy and you can  consolidate (https://bitcointalk.or/index.php?topic=2848987.0) your inputs later when the need arise... you might be needing it in your journey too

With all of the suggested wallets and the maneuver on how you should explore them. I want to add not with those technicalities but about you being prone to scammers about using wallets.

And that's about scammers attracting you by saying that they've got wallets and private keys that contain a lot of Bitcoins or anything that's on it and will ask you for a small amount of money to pay.

Don't believe in such as you try to learn about wallets and such, you're going to be targeted by these cons by encouraging you to be greedy and by that kind of offer you think you're a winner but it's not.

Instead of making transactions on the mainnet, better do it on the testnet. This way, he can make as many transactions as he wants and explore how bitcoin works without paying anything (which have a real value) since he can get testnet coins for free. The desktop version of Electrum supports testnet.
OP, understanding how wallets work is going to be easier if you understand how bitcoin and its blockchain work.

Simcard provided you with what is seemly the best guide you could find out there. Bitcoin almost amounts to Boi thing when you don’t have it saved away in a privately secured wallet. You must ensure if your doing it, your doing it right and go through the provided link to get in depth information on why people choose certain wallets for there Bitcoin holdings. Further more, answer the question of which, what and why on your own terms, it would help a lot.

There is nothing wrong with having HW for securing crypto assets but when someone begins then I would recommend one step ahead instead of all the way deep, cause they get drowned in too much technical information that can confuse people that's why they can simply start with an SPV, then can go ahead further.

I have been using Electrum on android because I am an Android user and always have been but it isn't available on IOS, these days people like to have an iPhone that's why suggested blue wallet which is the same as electrum in terms of everything.

This is what I want op to do before making transactions on mainnet which is good to start practicing and feel how the bitcoin wallet is operated. For starters, itbis very simple which is send and receive but first, accessing the wallet is a must before op can make a transaction. For sending, fill up the wallet address that op will send to and for receiving is op will have to share the wallet address. Op should also consider learning how to keep the wallet safe and secured. There's also blockchain since you mentioned it which op will need to learn and understand like why do transaction needs s confirmation and many more.

Start with Electrum wallet, this is the best one for beginners, its safer and its a non custodial wallet too, and if ever you feel like upgrading then you can consider buying a hardware wallet, for me its either Electrum wallet or a hardware wallet like Trezor.

I will advice you spent time learning about how to keep your recovery seed safe, because once you compromise this it doesn't matter which wallet you use anymore, your assets will be stolen from you.

Although, a hardware wallet adds extra layers of security but in the end it depends on how you keep your recovery seed safe.

1. Avoid backing the recovery seed in a email or cloud services.
2. Avoid taking screenshot of your recovery seed with your phone.
3. Whichever ways you choose at last it must be a complete offline way.

You are welcome to the forum and you are in the right place to learn about Bitcoin and the entire cryptocurrency space, just like you have asked a question, many experienced members are willing to give you directions. You have been properly lectured about wallets and have been shown links to increase your knowledge, what I can add is to tell you that if you lose your private keys and seed phrase, you have lost your Bitcoin forever. You Bitcoin will be in the blochchain but you can not have access to it without your wallet private keys, when you lose your device where you have your wallet, you can not import your original wallet into another device without your seed phrase. So securing your seed phrase is of paramount importance if you want your Bitcoin to continue being your own. Hide your seed phrase in more than one location, so it one is lost or damaged you have another one for use if the need arises.

Right below the OP already provides a link to the topic related to a wallet that you can read. I will also suggest to visit the Child Board  Wallet Software (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=37.0) and it is also available  Hardware Wallets (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=261.0).
I like your desire to ask about wallets because it is important for the safety of assets.
If you want to use a software wallet, use an open source that has been tested. Likewise with hardware wallet.

Storing Bitcoin in large amounts, it will not be safe to use a hot wallet because the hot wallet is connected to the internet and in terms of security, that is its weak point. The opposite is a cold wallet. Cold wallets are safer based on usage practices because there is no connection to the internet. Using a hot wallet for small transactions in daily activities may be suitable in my opinion. For example, I use open source wallet software for small transactions such as unstoppable wallet.

Knowing about how bitcoin wallet operates is something you can still learn by reading just like you did as you have mentioned and it has helped you know the much you have known on the forum already, keep up with you reading and research style and i believe you are going to be able to get to the point where you will know as much as you have desired in the bitcoin eco system, but if  i should make a are commendation, i will advise you don't use exchange wallets as a beginner rather  use a non custodian wallet and make sure when getting any of these, don just download from anywhere rather from their site if they have got one so you will not be using a clone app and putting your asset at risk. but if you are storing a very large quantity, make sure to use the offline wallet to be sure of optimal security and make sure to guard your seed phrase very well because they are the key to your asset else you have your asset lost and gone probably forever.

I agree with your advice on learning about bitcoin wallets. And your tip OP to avoid exchange wallets as beginner is good advice. Instead use a non custodial wallet that lets you control your assets. When choosing wallet download it from official website to avoid fake apps and security risks. If we have a lot of bitcoins we should use an offline wallet for extra security. And we should keep in mind that our seed phrase is like a key to your assets we should keep it safe. And we know if we lose that so we will lose our assets.

Knowing more about the market drives into learning and reading new articles and ideas. We have every tendency to strive for better positions and comprehend the fact we're growing. There are basics that needs to be timely understood thoroughly because the space is complex. Bitcoin is mainly an important project in cryptocurrency and consider priority for all visioned traders and investors. I've not come in closure with the sights of bitcoin vanishing because it's been in the far decades and it's existence and popularity keeps rapidly rising.

Knowledge is power. Bitcoin wallets are effectively and numerous when we're dealing with the numbers. Always make sure you're making the best decision because comfort and safety comes first on the list. Bitcoin should be targets but not in desperate momentum because there are certainly consequences if we're off track, you know what that means, losses are recorded.

How a Bitcoin wallet is operated? That's kind of a confusing question. But I guess it might help if you know the difference between an open-source wallet and a closed-source wallet. An open-source wallet operates with its source codes open to the public. Meaning, anybody can review the codes. Anybody can perform audits as to its security. Anything in the codes that is malicious or prone to harmful attacks or abuse could be addressed right away. This transparency is the primary reason why open-source wallets are generally considered reliable and trustworthy and are highly recommended over closed-source wallets. Closed-source wallets, on the other hand, operate with source codes only known by the wallet provider. Since the public cannot review the codes, it is more or less impossible to verify whether they are with or without malicious portions inserted.

I guess it's also important to know the distinction between a non-custodial wallet and a custodial wallet. The former operates without keeping the user's private keys. Meaning, the only person who knows and controls the private keys is the owner alone. As to custodial wallets, the private keys are controlled by a third party. To know the difference is very important because Bitcoin is about freedom, independence, control, ownership.

All in all, a Bitcoin wallet that's both open-source and non-custodial is the kind of wallet you might be looking for.

Bitcoin wallets are easy to learn about just for you to actually get the right information about the one you are learning and you need to learn about the security behind wallets how to keep your seed phrase safe and other things understanding chain when you are making withdrawal so their nothing to serious and trying to avoid exchange wallet is one of the best advice that can be given is to get a wallet that you can save your assets then get a trusted exchange for transaction but some people will consider the transaction fee instead of them to consider security first but no they want everything at ease and shortcut is always one dangerous road to take, holding the keys your self makes everything very easy and you don't have to panic about anything especially if you are holding and holders need this information more and even those that are trading can always move their profit from one place to another. no matter what it is whether you are holding or not everyone needs this information so that we don't have to worry.

Providing strong security for someone’s assets should always be everyone’s concern. However, there are always a few people who are more concerned about how to provide their assets with strong security. Some investors have lost their assets, not because of anything inherent, but because their assets were stored in places where they shouldn’t have been. Many have stored their assets in exchanges, and when the exchange collapsed, they lost their funds. It is crucial for any newbie who doesn't know about wallets to learn and stop storing their funds in exchanges where they will not have full control of their assets. Additionally,if anything goes wrong with the exchange where funds are kept, some will hardly have peace of mind. Learning about wallets should be among the first things newbies need to do, so that whenever they start storing their funds, they no will try to use custodial wallets.