<p>Think of Bitcoin like a ledger. When you (your Bitcoin wallet) receives Bitcoin, instead of receiving an item or file, everyone is updated with an updated ledger including the balance of your Bitcoin address.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBC-nXj3Ng4" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Here</a> is an extraordinary explanation on Bitcoin.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-12-19T21:31:57.860Z
The video is awesome. Thanks for the tip!
Christiaan Westerbeek
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-12-19T19:46:15.283Z
2017-12-19T19:46:15.283Z
Monstrum
<p>"you receive a bitcoin" means that someone makes a transaction with your BTC-adress as aim. Nothing of this happens on your computer or in your wallet. It's everything in the decentralized blockchain.</p>

<p>Your wallet is only an easy tool to save you private key, to ask the network to make a transaction, to see your total amound... And with the private key, you have access to the adress where someone sent the bitcoin to.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-12-19T19:03:41.600Z
2017-12-19T19:03:41.600Z
hardfork
<p>It's much the same as when you have a dollar. When you have a dollar, you have the ability to give someone else a dollar, no more, no less. When someone sends 0.5 BTC to your account, what they've done is give your account the ability to transfer 0.5 BTC to someone else's account.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-12-22T09:23:43.177Z
2017-12-22T09:23:43.177Z
David Schwartz
<p>When your bank agrees to give you a loan, and creates an account for you with a $10,000 balance, which you can use to pay bills from your computer, what do you actually get?  (Would have been a comment if I'd had sufficient rep.)</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-12-25T00:10:41.837Z
2017-12-25T00:10:41.837Z
www
<p>Hopefully this analogy helps clear it up:</p>

<p>Your bitcoin address is like your bank account number and your private key is like your bank account pin. Then the blockchain is a ledger just like if you were to log into chase online banking. But bitcoin is decentralized and chase is centralized.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-12-19T20:12:35.347Z
2017-12-19T20:12:35.347Z
Marc Alexander
<p>Say someone sends me 0.5 of a BTC to my desktop wallet, is it a digital file or lines of code that they send me which has monetary value? I'm very confused on what you actually RECEIVE with cryptocurrency.</p>

<utxo><receiving>
When you receive a BitCoin what do you actually get?
WHOATEMYNOODLES
# When you receive a BitCoin what do you actually get?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-12-19)

Say someone sends me 0.5 of a BTC to my desktop wallet, is it a digital file or lines of code that they send me which has monetary value? I'm very confused on what you actually RECEIVE with cryptocurrency.

**Tags:** utxo, receiving


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## 5 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2017-12-19. Score: 4

Think of Bitcoin like a ledger. When you (your Bitcoin wallet) receives Bitcoin, instead of receiving an item or file, everyone is updated with an updated ledger including the balance of your Bitcoin address.

[Here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBC-nXj3Ng4) is an extraordinary explanation on Bitcoin.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: The video is awesome. Thanks for the tip!  

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### Answer by username_3 on 2017-12-19. Score: 1

"you receive a bitcoin" means that someone makes a transaction with your BTC-adress as aim. Nothing of this happens on your computer or in your wallet. It's everything in the decentralized blockchain.

Your wallet is only an easy tool to save you private key, to ask the network to make a transaction, to see your total amound... And with the private key, you have access to the adress where someone sent the bitcoin to.


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### Answer by username_4 on 2017-12-22. Score: 0

It's much the same as when you have a dollar. When you have a dollar, you have the ability to give someone else a dollar, no more, no less. When someone sends 0.5 BTC to your account, what they've done is give your account the ability to transfer 0.5 BTC to someone else's account.


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### Answer by username_5 on 2017-12-25. Score: 0

When your bank agrees to give you a loan, and creates an account for you with a $10,000 balance, which you can use to pay bills from your computer, what do you actually get? (Would have been a comment if I'd had sufficient rep.)


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### Answer by username_6 on 2017-12-19. Score: 0

Hopefully this analogy helps clear it up:

Your bitcoin address is like your bank account number and your private key is like your bank account pin. Then the blockchain is a ledger just like if you were to log into chase online banking. But bitcoin is decentralized and chase is centralized.


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