Send Transactions

This guide explains how to send BTC, extend post-broadcast polling, sign without broadcasting, quote and broadcast signed hex, estimate fees before sending, cap transaction fees, use a custom fee rate, and target a specific confirmation time.

Send BTC

You can send Bitcoin to a recipient using account.sendTransaction():

Send BTC

const result = await account.sendTransaction({
  to: 'bc1qxy2kgdygjrsqtzq2n0yrf2493p83kkfjhx0wlh',
  value: 100000n // 0.001 BTC in satoshis
})
console.log('Transaction hash:', result.hash)
console.log('Transaction fee:', result.fee, 'satoshis')

Bitcoin transactions support a single recipient only. Amounts and fees are always in satoshis (1 BTC = 100,000,000 satoshis). The minimum amount must be above the dust limit (294 satoshis for SegWit, 546 for legacy).

Extend Post-Broadcast Polling

If you want account.sendTransaction() to keep polling after broadcast until spent inputs disappear from the unspent-output set, pass the optional timeoutMs argument:

Send BTC With Extended Polling

const result = await account.sendTransaction(
  {
    to: 'bc1qxy2kgdygjrsqtzq2n0yrf2493p83kkfjhx0wlh',
    value: 100000n,
  },
  30000
)

console.log('Transaction hash:', result.hash)

If you omit timeoutMs, the wallet uses the default post-broadcast polling window before returning.

Sign Without Broadcasting

Use account.signTransaction() when your app needs a signed raw Bitcoin transaction but does not want WDK to broadcast it immediately.

Sign BTC Transaction

const signedTransaction = await account.signTransaction({
  to: 'bc1qxy2kgdygjrsqtzq2n0yrf2493p83kkfjhx0wlh',
  value: 100000n,
  feeRate: 10n
})

console.log('Signed transaction:', signedTransaction)

signTransaction() returns the signed transaction hex. Use sendTransaction() when WDK should sign, broadcast, and return the transaction hash.

Quote and Broadcast Signed Hex

A writable Bitcoin account can quote and broadcast a previously signed raw transaction. The wallet broadcasts the supplied hex without rebuilding or signing it again.

Quote And Broadcast Signed BTC

const signedTransaction = await account.signTransaction({
  to: 'bc1qxy2kgdygjrsqtzq2n0yrf2493p83kkfjhx0wlh',
  value: 100000n,
  feeRate: 10n
})

const quote = await account.quoteSendTransaction(signedTransaction)
console.log('Signed transaction fee:', quote.fee, 'satoshis')

const result = await account.sendTransaction(signedTransaction)
console.log('Transaction hash:', result.hash)

Signed-hex quoting parses the transaction and fetches its referenced previous transactions through the configured client. It requires network access and does not broadcast. Broadcasting applies transactionMaxFee when configured, but signature validity is ultimately checked by the Bitcoin network rather than pre-validated by this method.

Estimate Fees

You can estimate the fee for a transaction without broadcasting it using account.quoteSendTransaction():

Estimate Fee

const quote = await account.quoteSendTransaction({
  to: 'bc1qxy2kgdygjrsqtzq2n0yrf2493p83kkfjhx0wlh',
  value: 100000n
})
console.log('Estimated fee:', quote.fee, 'satoshis')

Cap Transaction Fees

Set transactionMaxFee when you create the wallet to stop sendTransaction() or signTransaction() if the estimated native BTC fee is too high.

Cap BTC Transaction Fees

const wallet = new WalletManagerBtc(seedPhrase, {
  network: 'bitcoin',
  transactionMaxFee: 10000n // satoshis
})

Send with Custom Fee Rate

You can override automatic fee estimation by providing a feeRate in sat/vB to account.sendTransaction():

Custom Fee Rate

const result = await account.sendTransaction({
  to: 'bc1qxy2kgdygjrsqtzq2n0yrf2493p83kkfjhx0wlh',
  value: 100000n,
  feeRate: 10n // sat/vB
})

When feeRate is provided, the confirmationTarget parameter is ignored.

Send with Confirmation Target

You can target a specific number of blocks for confirmation using the confirmationTarget parameter in account.sendTransaction():

Confirmation Target

const result = await account.sendTransaction({
  to: 'bc1qxy2kgdygjrsqtzq2n0yrf2493p83kkfjhx0wlh',
  value: 100000n,
  confirmationTarget: 6 // target 6 blocks (~1 hour)
})

Next Steps

Learn how to view transaction history.

Send Transactions

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