Transaction is a very general word to describe the recording of data into a bitcoin block. Just like registering your car, specific things related to the transaction are required. Bitcoin transactions have a similar set of specific things that are both required and optional to include.
To do a bitcoin transaction, you need an address to give to the sender. The address is somewhat like your VIN number on your car. It identifies that specific car, there should not be any duplicate VINs. It doesn’t identify who you are or where you are on map. The major difference for this example is that a VIN is not public information. When you give out your address and someone sends you bitcoin, it will be available for anyone to see the transaction and the details.
Once you give the sender your address, they will do the work required to complete the transaction. Simply use your wallet software to check to see if you got the bitcoin. With just the address, you can go to a website that provides public access for free to search every transaction since 2009. Here is an example transaction using the mempool.space free website. You can see different items that are included in the transaction. You can see all the different types of information about the blockchain and you can watch it live as new blocks are created. You may have to wait a few minutes.
In part 7 we will discuss wallets and their uses.
