blockchain fee and alternatives

[lebron99x]

Hello,

i´m still "new" in this btc world and i was wondering what should i choose when i send from blockchain example for an amount of 200-600$
we have the option to choose the fee

and are there good alternatives like blockchain (wallet/trading site) with low fee´s where you don´t have to verify your account...

[OmegaStarScream]

Online wallets are not safe and you should not use them, especially when it comes to large amounts. Exchanges (trading sites as you called them) should only be used for trading purposes, and not as your personal wallet to keep your funds into.

If you want full control over your funds (and also fees), I suggest using Electrum.

[Lucius]

~snip~

The amount of the fee depends on several factors, so you should take into account number of your inputs / outputs, current network load  -  the number of unconfirmed transactions.

You have 3 options on blockchain.com wallet :

- Regular fee, which mean that your transaction should be confirmed in 1+ hour.
- Priority fee , which mean your transaction should be confirmed in less then one hour.
- Customize fee, which allow user to set custom fee.

If you want to set custom fee then you need to check some sites that calculate fees, for example you might try using this calculator.

Blockchain.com is adjusting fees, but many user are complaining that that they are not very successful in this. Most of crypto exchanges have fixed BTC fees and KYC, and that fee is in most cases minumum 50 000 satoshi for BTC withdraw. Binance is not have KYC for withdraw up to 2 BTC, you can sign there for free and check their fees.

[yesyes18]

Binance gives you somehow tolerable fees as compared to others in terms of Bitcoin withdrawal, and the trust score from the crypto community is quite good. Personally, I've been using blockchain wallet for now and I think they've been good so far. You can also try out the trust wallet. A few of my colleagues who use it say it isn't bad as well.

[erikalui]

Hello,

i´m still "new" in this btc world and i was wondering what should i choose when i send from blockchain example for an amount of 200-600$
we have the option to choose the fee

and are there good alternatives like blockchain (wallet/trading site) with low fee´s where you don´t have to verify your account...

Most web wallets don't require KYC but are not safe while free apps like Jaxx while other apps like Xapo and Crypterium require KYC but are secure in terms of your money being safe but you cannot use them if you receive money from gambling websites (they hold your wallet's private key) unlike Jaxx. Blockchain.info is the most unreliable wallet so don't use it.

Also, fee depends on your incoming transactions (incases you receive amounts below 0.01 BTC) while you can set a low fee for your transactions on almost all wallets. The confirmation time may differ.

Exchange websites can never be considered as wallets. They keep getting hacked so never trust them with your money nor any website which doesn't give you access to your private key.

[bL4nkcode]

If you want full control over your funds (and also fees), I suggest using Electrum.

Electrum is good alternative for what you're looking, even its mobile version, if you don't want to open your PC/laptop just to send BTC. Make sure you have clean and malware-free device (PC or android)

[Findingnemo]

Hello,

i´m still "new" in this btc world and i was wondering what should i choose when i send from blockchain example for an amount of 200-600$
we have the option to choose the fee

and are there good alternatives like blockchain (wallet/trading site) with low fee´s where you don´t have to verify your account...

Like others said go with Electrum to have control over the fee.

But if you really want the hot wallet like blockchain then I suggest you to go with coinbase which is error free when compared to blockchain which have lot of errors to often in my experience.But its not a safe wallet if you want to hold your bitcoins there.

[o_e_l_e_o]

Most web wallets don't require KYC but are not safe while free apps like Jaxx while other apps like Xapo and Crypterium require KYC but are secure in terms of your money being safe but you cannot use them if you receive money from gambling websites (they hold your wallet's private key) unlike Jaxx.

There is no meaningful correlation between KYC and the safety of your coins. There are several big name service providers which have very strict KYC requirements which have been hacked, both for the KYC documents themselves as well as for the coins they are holding. Don't be fooled in to thinking that undergoing KYC offers you any sort of protection whatsoever - KYC only offers the exchange legal protection (or extra income when they sell your details to third parties).

Undergoing KYC to use an exchange is forgivable (although I would always recommend to use P2P or DEX trading and keep your documents safe), but you should never be undergoing KYC just to use a wallet. It's bad enough that you are trusting an unknown third party to have complete control of your coins on your behalf. Why on Earth would you also be giving these internet strangers your personal details? Would you give your passport and credit card to a random stranger on the street for safekeeping?

The best site for estimating fees remains this one: https://jochen-hoenicke.de/queue/#1,8h. Scroll down to the third graph "Mempool Size in MB" to get an idea of the size of all pending transactions at each fee level, and slot yourself in accordingly depending on your urgency.

[BitHodler]

But if you really want the hot wallet like blockchain then I suggest you to go with coinbase which is error free when compared to blockchain which have lot of errors to often in my experience.But its not a safe wallet if you want to hold your bitcoins there.

Coinbase is an exchange, not an online wallet platform-- people have used them as a wallet for years now, but that's not what it is meant for. Based on that I would just recommend people to use an SPV client, much better and more control.

Also, Coinbase no longer allows you to freely use their platform like they used to do before they changed their terms-- verification is mandatory, so one more aspect that makes Coinbase a bad platform to use for that purpose.

The benefit of an SPV client such as Electrum is that you can use RBF, which comes really handy in case a large service processes a lot of withdrawals at once, which then causes the fees to spike up. One fee bump can save you hours of waiting.

[LTU_btc]

OP, it seems that you're looking for two things - exchange and wallet.
Most wallets allows you to choose fees between low, regular and big for high priority transaction. Some also allows to set custom fee. And none of wallets require KYC. If wallet requires KYC, then it can't be called wallet. Personally I suggest to try Electrum wallet.
About exchanges, unfortunately almost all requires to pass KYC. Offcourse, some exchanges can be used without verification, but then you have low limits. If you're small trader, it shouldn't be a big problem. And almost all exchanges have default fee, and usually it's high. They don't want to be used as a wallet.

[Findingnemo]

But if you really want the hot wallet like blockchain then I suggest you to go with coinbase which is error free when compared to blockchain which have lot of errors to often in my experience.But its not a safe wallet if you want to hold your bitcoins there.

Coinbase is an exchange, not an online wallet platform-- people have used them as a wallet for years now, but that's not what it is meant for. Based on that I would just recommend people to use an SPV client, much better and more control.

Also, Coinbase no longer allows you to freely use their platform like they used to do before they changed their terms-- verification is mandatory, so one more aspect that makes Coinbase a bad platform to use for that purpose.

The benefit of an SPV client such as Electrum is that you can use RBF, which comes really handy in case a large service processes a lot of withdrawals at once, which then causes the fees to spike up. One fee bump can save you hours of waiting.

I am talking about the coinbase android walllet which is designed for trading purpose but still good one for less storing purpose.I am using it for months for sending smaller transactions and holding nearly $1500 of bitcoin on it because their fee is not too high like blockchain priority fee but still it will be confirmed in 15-20 mins which still decent enough for me and my needs.

[erikalui]

There is no meaningful correlation between KYC and the safety of your coins. There are several big name service providers which have very strict KYC requirements which have been hacked, both for the KYC documents themselves as well as for the coins they are holding. Don't be fooled in to thinking that undergoing KYC offers you any sort of protection whatsoever - KYC only offers the exchange legal protection (or extra income when they sell your details to third parties).

Undergoing KYC to use an exchange is forgivable (although I would always recommend to use P2P or DEX trading and keep your documents safe), but you should never be undergoing KYC just to use a wallet. It's bad enough that you are trusting an unknown third party to have complete control of your coins on your behalf. Why on Earth would you also be giving these internet strangers your personal details? Would you give your passport and credit card to a random stranger on the street for safekeeping?

The best site for estimating fees remains this one: https://jochen-hoenicke.de/queue/#1,8h. Scroll down to the third graph "Mempool Size in MB" to get an idea of the size of all pending transactions at each fee level, and slot yourself in accordingly depending on your urgency.

I don't relate KYC with security but I said that web wallets that don't require KYC are not trusted as they get easily hacked while wallets like Xapo are apps that provide more security in terms of 2FA, ID verification in case you lose access to your wallet and plus ask an additional verification when you perform any transaction compared to web wallets.

Web wallets like coinbase are pretty reliable and in terms of getting hacked, they have an insurance to protect users but since they don't provide private keys, I don't prefer them.

[o_e_l_e_o]

I don't relate KYC with security but I said that web wallets that don't require KYC are not trusted as they get easily hacked

Sure, but what I'm saying is that all web wallets are easily hacked and no web wallet should be trusted, regardless of whether or not they require KYC.

while wallets like Xapo are apps that provide more security in terms of 2FA, ID verification in case you lose access to your wallet and plus ask an additional verification when you perform any transaction compared to web wallets.

Sure, using 2FA is better than not using it, but again, you shouldn't be fooled in to thinking Xapo is safe just because they do. Although it is an app, it is still essentially a web wallet - you access your bitcoins by logging in to their service via the internet. It is therefore hackable, phishable, and social engineerable. You are still trusting a third party to manage your money for you, which is antithetical to the entire point of bitcoin being trustless.

None of these services which you have talked about (web wallets, Xapo, Coinbase) let you hold your own private keys. If you aren't holding the keys, then you don't own the bitcoin. Storing your coins in any of these (or similar) services should be discouraged.

[TheUltraElite]

OP has not been online for the last 6days.

i´m still "new" in this btc world and i was wondering what should i choose when i send from blockchain example for an amount of 200-600$
we have the option to choose the fee

I cannot stress more on the fact that you should not use website wallets like blockchain.com and so on if you have the chance to choose an alternative.

and are there good alternatives like blockchain (wallet/trading site) with low fee´s where you don´t have to verify your account...

Several lightweight wallets are there. You could also get the official bitcoin core wallet with the 20+GB blockchain ledger before starting to use it. Electrum is a light weight client that allows you to choose a custom fee.

If you want a transaction to be fast then you have to go for a higher fee. If you want your transaction to be slow but cheap go for the smaller fee. Its a tradeoff between speed of transaction sending and how much you are willing to pay.

[bitcoin-shark]

electrum is one of the best wallets, with a very low custom fee of only 0.00000538 btc i managed to send a transaction in 10 blocks (about 3 hours)...

[o_e_l_e_o]

electrum is one of the best wallets, with a very low custom fee of only 0.00000538 btc i managed to send a transaction in 10 blocks (about 3 hours)...

I mean yes, Electrum is easily one of the best wallets out there, but transactions with low fees confirming relatively quickly has absolutely nothing to do with it. The appropriate fee and resulting speed of your transaction depends entirely on how full bitcoin's memory pool is at the time you make the transaction. See here for a visual representation: https://jochen-hoenicke.de/queue/#1,2d. As long as your wallet lets you choose your own fee (and you shouldn't be using a wallet that doesn't let you do this), then the same transaction with the same fee would take the same time to confirm, regardless of which wallet it was sent from. A fee of 538 sats could be as high as as 3 or 4 sats/byte and confirm within a couple of minutes, or could be as lower than 1 sat/byte and potentially never confirm.

The wallet you use has no direct correlation to the speed of your transaction confirming.

[hello_good_sir]

Hello,

i´m still "new" in this btc world and i was wondering what should i choose when i send from blockchain example for an amount of 200-600$
we have the option to choose the fee

and are there good alternatives like blockchain (wallet/trading site) with low fee´s where you don´t have to verify your account...

Getting a bitcoin address is completely free and anonymous for anyone. You can get one from using electrum.

I'm honestly not sure about what your question is. But I assume that it's got to do with setting your own fees.

Yes, it is possible to set the fee level to whatever you want. You could actually send a completely fee free transaction, whether or not anyone will be willing to include that transaction in their block is a completely different question though.

Essentially there is a trade off between confirmation speed and price. In this current climate, where there isn't a lot of unconfirmed tx's in the mempool, it is entirely possible to get by with 1-5 sats per byte if you're willing to wait hours/days for your transaction, i.e. it's not urgent.

[mersal]

I would recommend you to check out freewallet.org. You can always choose a transaction fee that suits best for you.

Freewallet is not actually a wallet its a custodial wallet something like coinbase so better choose a wallet which gives full control to the owner of the funds.

Electrum or greenaddress are highly recommended for someone to install their bitcoin wallet into smartphones.

[bL4nkcode]

I would recommend you to check out freewallet.org. You can always choose a transaction fee that suits best for you.

Electrum, mycelium, blockstream green, coinomi (mobile) can choose and set a custom fee as well. If that's your only reason, I recommend not using it if you don't want to get required by their kyc verification.

[o_e_l_e_o]

You could actually send a completely fee free transaction, whether or not anyone will be willing to include that transaction in their block is a completely different question though.

Only if you mined it yourself. If you send a transaction with a fee which is below minRelayTxFee, or the minimum relay transaction fee, it won't be broadcast between nodes. Nodes can set their own custom minRelayTxFee, but most just use the default which is 1 sat/vbyte. If you try to send a transaction with a fee lower than this, chances are it won't be propagated through the network. It wouldn't be a case of miners not choosing to include the transaction, but rather they wouldn't even know it exists because nodes wouldn't relay it to them.

it is entirely possible to get by with 1-5 sats per byte if you're willing to wait hours/days for your transaction.

In the last few days I've been making 1 sat/vbyte transactions which are confirming within minutes. It certainly isn't taking days.