Once your wallet is set up, sending and receiving Monero is simple. To receive, you share an address. To send, you need the other person's address, an amount, and a small fee. Monero keeps every transfer private by default, so you do not have to do anything extra to protect your privacy.
The one thing to be careful about is the address. A Monero payment cannot be reversed once it is sent, so the address has to be right. Get that part correct and the rest is easy.
Receiving is the simpler half, so let us start there.
Receiving Monero: your address and subaddresses
To receive Monero, you share your receiving address. A Monero address is a long string of 95 characters that starts with a 4 or an 8. You can copy it, or better, show it as a QR code for the sender to scan. For privacy, it helps to use a fresh address each time someone new pays you.
Open the receive screen in your wallet to find your address. To send you money, a person only needs that address, nothing else (source: Monero project, address). You can hand it over by copying the text or, more safely, by sharing a QR code so the payer scans it instead of copy-pasting a long string (source: Monero project, accepting Monero). There is one habit worth adopting from the start: subaddresses. Your wallet can generate as many receiving addresses as you like, and each one is called a subaddress. An address that starts with an 8 is a subaddress, while your main address starts with a 4. Using a different subaddress for each person or service that pays you keeps those payments from being easily linked together by an outside observer. It costs nothing and takes a click. So rather than reuse one address forever, create a fresh subaddress for each new sender. Everything sent to any of your addresses lands in the same wallet balance. You can still hand out your main address if you prefer simplicity, and it will work fine. The subaddress habit is just a small extra layer of privacy for people who want it. Either way, there is nothing to switch on to start receiving; as soon as your wallet exists, it can accept payments. The general mechanics of moving any cryptocurrency are covered in sending and receiving crypto; here we focus on what is specific to Monero.
Sending Monero: the three things you need
Sending Monero takes three pieces of information: the recipient's address, the amount, and a small network fee that your wallet adds automatically. You paste or scan their address, type the amount, review the details, and confirm. The wallet then builds and broadcasts the payment for you, and it handles the privacy on its own.
Open the send screen and start with the address. Paste the recipient's Monero address, or scan their QR code if you have one. Take a moment to check it, since this is the part that must be right. Many wallets also include an address book, where you can save people you pay often so you do not have to paste an address every time. If you use one, still glance at the saved address the first time, and after that you can rely on it. Next, enter the amount of Monero you want to send. Most wallets also have an option to send everything at once, often labeled "All", which is handy when you are moving a whole balance. Behind the scenes, your wallet packages this into a transaction, which is a signed instruction that details the transfer to the recipient and the amount (source: Monero project, transaction). You do not need to do anything to make it private; Monero hides the sender, receiver, and amount for you. When the details look right, confirm, and the wallet broadcasts the payment to the network. That is the whole send. If you have not bought any Monero yet, that earlier step is covered in how to buy Monero.
Fees and transaction priority
Every Monero transaction pays a small network fee, which goes to the miners who confirm it. The fee is usually low. Some wallets let you set a priority, which trades a slightly higher fee for a faster confirmation. For everyday sends, the default priority is almost always the right choice, and you rarely need to think about it.
You do not set the fee by hand; the wallet works it out for you based on the size of the transaction and how busy the network is. Monero fees are typically small, which is one of the practical upsides of the network. If your wallet is in its advanced mode, you may see a transaction priority option (source: Monero GUI guide). A higher priority pays a bit more so your payment is picked up sooner, while a normal priority costs less and still confirms in a reasonable time. Unless you are in a genuine hurry, the default is fine, and paying extra rarely makes a meaningful difference for a personal transfer. The fee is simply the cost of having the network process and secure your payment. It is worth glancing at the fee before you confirm, just so there are no surprises, but for the vast majority of sends it will be a tiny fraction of the amount you are moving. It stays modest even when the network is busier, which is one reason small, everyday payments remain practical on Monero.
How long it takes: confirmations and the wait to spend
A Monero send is broadcast in seconds and usually confirms within a few minutes. There is one quirk worth knowing when you receive: newly arrived funds are locked for about ten confirmations, roughly twenty minutes, before you can spend them. So a balance can appear in your wallet before it is actually ready to send onward.
When you send, the transaction goes out to the network right away, and miners include it in a block. Each new block on top of it is another confirmation, and the payment is considered settled after a few of them. For the receiver, there is a short waiting period. Monero locks newly received funds for about ten confirmations, which works out to roughly twenty minutes, before they become spendable. This is normal and built into how the network works. The short lock exists so the network has time to settle, which protects everyone from certain kinds of tampering. It is not a delay you can remove, and it applies to the funds themselves, not to your ability to see them arrive. Exchanges apply the same logic when you deposit: they usually wait for a set number of confirmations before crediting your account, which is why an exchange deposit can take a little longer to appear than a plain wallet-to-wallet transfer. In practice, a payment you receive may first show in your wallet as pending or locked, and then turn into a fully spendable balance a little later. There is no need to worry if a fresh deposit is not immediately available to send again; just give it those few blocks. If you are the one sending, the recipient sees the same pattern on their end, so it is fair not to expect an instant turnaround when someone is forwarding funds they only just received.
Sending to exchanges and merchants
Sending to an exchange or a shop works the same way, with one extra rule: use exactly the deposit details they give you. Some services hand you a normal address, and some give an integrated address that tags your deposit so it is credited to the right account. Whatever they provide, follow it to the letter and do not improvise.
When you deposit Monero to an exchange, the exchange shows you a specific deposit address. Copy it exactly, or scan its QR code, and never reuse an old one or type one from memory. Historically, some services also asked for a payment ID, a short code that told them which account a deposit belonged to. That system has largely changed: long payment IDs were removed from Monero back in version 0.15, and most services that still need to tag a deposit now use an integrated address, which bundles that information into the address itself (source: Monero project, payment ID). An integrated address looks a little longer than a normal one, so do not be surprised if an exchange's deposit address is not the usual length. The practical takeaway is simple. Whatever an exchange or merchant tells you to use, use precisely that, and nothing else. If they give you an address and a separate memo or payment ID, include both. Getting this wrong is the most common way deposits go missing, and because a Monero transaction cannot be undone, a payment sent to the wrong place is usually gone for good. When in doubt, send a small test amount first and confirm it arrives before sending the rest.
Keeping track: your transaction history
Your wallet keeps a record of everything you send and receive. The transaction history shows each payment, its amount, and how many confirmations it has. If you are ever unsure whether a payment went through, this is the first place to look, rather than sending again and risking a double payment.
Every wallet has a transactions or history screen. Each entry shows whether it was incoming or outgoing, the amount, the date, and its confirmation status. A send that is still processing shows a low number of confirmations that climbs as time passes; once it has enough, it is settled. This record is useful for peace of mind. If a payment seems slow, check the history before doing anything else, because resending is how people accidentally pay twice. Because Monero is private, the amounts and parties are not laid out on a public explorer the way they are with a transparent coin, so your own wallet history is the authoritative record of what you have done. Keep in mind that if you restore your wallet on a new device from your seed, the history rebuilds as the wallet re-scans the chain, so a freshly restored wallet may take a little while to show everything. The record lives with your wallet, not on a public ledger for anyone to read. That privacy is part of the appeal, and it also means keeping your own records is up to you.
Staying private and avoiding mistakes
Two ideas keep you safe and private. First, Monero already hides the sender, receiver, and amount by default, so you get privacy without doing anything. Second, most losses come from address mistakes, not from Monero itself. A little care with the address prevents almost every problem you are likely to meet.
Start with privacy, since it is the easy part. Monero obscures the sender, receiver, and amount of every transaction by default (source: Wikipedia, Monero), so you do not need special settings to keep a payment private. The one privacy habit worth keeping is using a fresh subaddress for each person who pays you, which stops your incoming payments from being grouped together. Now the mistakes. Because a send cannot be reversed, the address is everything. Always paste or scan it rather than typing it, and then check the address carefully, not just the ends, because some malware can swap what you pasted for a look-alike that matches only at the start and finish. For a new recipient, or a large amount, send a small test first and confirm it lands before sending the rest. Do not rush a send you are unsure about. Treat any message that pressures you to send a test payment to "prove" ownership, or to move funds to a so-called safe address, as a scam, because no legitimate service works that way. And when you receive a payment you plan to keep, think about where it lives long term, which is covered in how to store Monero safely. For the bigger picture of the risks of holding Monero, see whether Monero is safe. Handle the address with care, and the rest takes care of itself.
Frequently asked questions
What do I need to send someone Monero?
Just their Monero address. A Monero address is a string of 95 characters that starts with a 4 or an 8. You paste or scan it into your wallet, enter the amount, and confirm. Your wallet adds a small network fee automatically, and it makes the payment private for you. You do not need any personal details about the recipient, only their address, so double-check that it is correct before you send.
What is a Monero subaddress?
A subaddress is an extra receiving address your wallet can generate, and you can make as many as you want. Each one starts with an 8, while your main address starts with a 4. Everything sent to any of them arrives in the same wallet. Using a different subaddress for each person or service that pays you helps keep those payments from being linked together, which is a simple, free way to protect your privacy.
How much are Monero transaction fees?
Monero fees are usually small. You do not set the fee yourself; the wallet calculates it based on the transaction size and how busy the network is. If your wallet has a priority setting, a higher priority costs a little more for a faster confirmation, while the normal setting is cheaper and still confirms in a reasonable time. For everyday transfers, the default is almost always the right choice, and the fee is a tiny fraction of the amount.
How long does a Monero transaction take?
A send is broadcast in seconds and usually confirms within a few minutes. When you receive, there is a short wait: newly arrived funds are locked for about ten confirmations, roughly twenty minutes, before you can spend them. So a payment may show in your wallet before it is ready to send onward. This is normal, and you just need to wait a few blocks for the balance to become spendable.
Do I need a payment ID?
Usually no. Old long payment IDs were removed from Monero in version 0.15, so most transfers between wallets need nothing extra. Some exchanges and merchants still tag deposits, but they now do it with an integrated address that bundles the information in for you. The rule is simple: use exactly the deposit details the service gives you. If they provide an address plus a separate memo, include both.
What happens if I send to the wrong address?
A Monero transaction cannot be reversed, so a payment sent to the wrong address is usually lost for good. There is no support line that can claw it back. This is why you should always paste or scan an address rather than typing it, check the whole address carefully after pasting rather than only the ends, and send a small test amount first when you are paying a new recipient or moving a large sum.
Is sending Monero private?
Yes, by default. Monero hides the sender, receiver, and amount of every transaction automatically, so you do not need to turn anything on. The main privacy habit worth keeping is using a fresh subaddress for each person who pays you, which stops your incoming payments from being grouped together. Beyond that, the network handles privacy for you on every send and receive.
Researched and written by the BloFin Academy editorial team with AI-assisted drafting. Updated July 2026. Sources: the official Monero project documentation at getmonero.org, the official Monero GUI guide, and the Monero entry on Wikipedia. All steps were independently verified against the official Monero documentation current as of July 2026.
This article is educational and general in nature, not financial advice. Monero transactions cannot be reversed, so you are responsible for sending to the correct address; when in doubt, send a small test amount first. Nothing in this article is a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any asset. BloFin offers the XMRUSDT perpetual contract for trading; to get started, create a BloFin account, fund it with cryptocurrency, and open the XMRUSDT perpetual contract trading page.