Secrets to Buying & Spending Bitcoin with Almost No Fees!

In this essential tutorial, we explore the most efficient ways to buy, save, and spend Bitcoin while minimizing on-chain fees. Learn to navigate platforms like Bull Bitcoin, Lightning Network, and Liquid Network, and discover the best tools for managing your BTC, including SideSwap Wallet, Blockstream Green Wallet, Blockstream Jade, Phoenix Lightning Wallet, Sparrow Wallet, and the Coldcard Hardware Wallet. This video is your ultimate guide to mastering Bitcoin transactions with minimal fees, enhanced security, and ease of use. Don't forget to like, share, and subscribe for more expert Bitcoin content!
#Bitcoin #BTC #LightningNetwork #LiquidNetwork #BitcoinWallets #BitcoinSecurity #BitcoinSavings #BitcoinSpending #LowFees #BitcoinTutorial #BitcoinGuide #BitcoinEfficiency
RELEVANT LINKS
Bull Bitcoin for No KYC Bitcoin Buys
• Why Bull Bitcoin is a ...
bullbitcoin.com/signup?referr...
Sideswap
• How To Use Bitcoin's L...
sideswap.io/downloads/
Blockstream Green
• Unlock the Power of Bi...
blockstream.com/green/
Blockstream Jade
• BLOCKSTREAM JADE - Sec...
Boltz Exchange
• BOLTZ: Swap From Light...
boltz.exchange/
Phoenix Wallet
• PHOENIX WALLET - Use B...
phoenix.acinq.co/
Sparrow Wallet
• SPARROW WALLET: Manage...
sparrowwallet.com/
Coldcard Hardware Wallet
• Coldcard Bitcoin Hardw...
store.coinkite.com/promo/BTCS...
Bip85
• BIP85: Segregated Bitc...
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[@contagionisafraud]

I have not lost one satoshi since paying attention to self custody. So far, Lightning has worked 100%. I have had a few transaction fail but did not lose any satoshis!

[@theresawaveyme4482]

I love this channel because it offers the buyers of Bitcoin/Alt's information at every level of the learning curve one might encounter on their journey. So important for the adoption of BTC that we keep revisiting the basics of Bitcoin as well as the more complex teachings. Thanks so much.

[@tqpro]

Hey Ben, nice tutorial, having a visual 'workflow' as you describe the steps may be quite a nice value add. Kind of like a Visio flowchart if you will. Otherwise solid info. Thank you!!!

[@RainBitcoins]

Been watching you for a long time Ben, this was an awesome tutorial, as usual. thx mate!!

[@caolanpower7749]

Been waiting for this!

[@coldflu]

Good info Ben, and the first example I’ve seen liquid great for.

[@paulussantosociwidjaja4781]

Thank you for the learning. Learning is for a lifetime, not only for the younger generation. Cheers!

[@monikabrozyna8904]

Love it, thank you for sharing!

[@paulinemaurice9189]

Wow, great content, I'm all about reducing fees and this was an amazing solution. Thanks as always for the amazing content, you rock! :)

[@giannibertuzzi]

Great video, will have a go at this! Thank you Ben 👌🏻

[@pdath]

That is quite a complex area you took on. Well done!

[@batmannownowbatman4059]

Great education which is free and extensive thanks for that

[@jamess.2649]

Amazing tutorial thanks man

[@andy-ec8xv]

i love liquid. giving out jades and liquid bitcoin this christmas because fees are so jacked.

[@BarathG-gl2xl]

Nice video. What is missing here is, pheonix charges 0.4% on lightning payments. So for the 2 million sats that you moved out at the end, you might have paid 8000 sats which is ideally the base layer network fees when fee rate is like 40 sats/vbyte if am not wrong. But yes, this method is best if average fees are like 100+ sats/vbyte.

[@garciagg3s]

Thank you for this Great Video my friend

[@Rogue_Money]

The BIP-85 tip is a great one!

[@fainzor]

Wow, this is big for the upcomming high fee environment. The Liquid Network is for a long time around us and I couldnt see a real usecase, because atm we are at $1 fees on L1, but this will change and the second Layer will be get more into focus. Love it. Good job!

[@thomasolbrich4981]

Love your videos, Thank you

[@MalcolmSimmonds]

Hi - I was looking for a video explaining Liquid and this fits the bill. Nicely made video, very clear, and all your supporting videos sound excellent. I learned a lot - thanks. I've subscribed, so that's one more for ya 😮😂 I'm a bitcoin miner and have been studying my income per terahash from fees which has gone up this year, making me aware of transaction fees. We have no idea where these are going so being aware of low cost options like Liquid could be worth a lot. Thanks 👍

[@nicoled5160]

my fav crypto channel❤

[@BobE_Nagesh]

Thanks for a great video Ben. Questions: Does the Aqua wallet make some of these steps obsolete? Also, I already have my stack in cold storage and I'm looking for the best practices to start spending it and living off my bitcoin, without incurring a lot of fees. I'm in Canada, so I'll be using Bull Bitcoin & Bitcoin Well to pay bills & credit cards, and bitrefill to buy gift cards & virtual mastercards, etc. Do you have a video dedicated to this? At the moment, it seems to me that going straight from cold storage (on the main chain), is best? Or is it better (from a fee perspective), to send from cold storage to either lightening or liquid to make these regular, day to day & monthly transactions? Thanks again for all you do!

[@danobrien3760]

Thanks Ben. This is great. I am wondering if you would be interested in doing a video on the Apollo 2. Not avail. yet, but that would be cool.

[@Boaz357]

Another Great video Ben

[@bluefuzecom]

Okay, so if we do have a Bull Bitcoin account then I’m assuming Side Swap wouldn’t be needed then?

[@GreggRoddy]

So, the exchange - to liquid - to cold wallet method can save $ on fees as long as the exchange covers the transfer leading up to pegging in?

[@liaoweien]

Will it ever Depeg? Or always one-to-one? Thanks for the amazing video.

[@sunsettrailrider]

Hey Ben! Excellent video as always! I do have a couple questions. 1st is about the spread difference between Shakepay & bull bitcoin. I noticed bull bitcoin sells bitcoin for let’s say $60,000 and Shakepay will sell it for $58,900. Does the additional markup in price from bull bitcoin out weigh the KYC & fees from Shakepay? 2nd. When sending from liquid to a lightning wallet, (phoenix) do you have to go through boltz? Is it not possible to just send from liquid right to phoenix?

[@pilotboba]

No, you can't. Lightning is a sidechain of Bitcoin, not Liquid. You could send from a btc wallet to the Phoenix wallet though, using the BTC address in the Phoenix wallet and it will splice into your current channel, or open a new one if you don't have one yet. Or, if you have enough inbound liquidity there would be little to no lightning fees because there would be no need to grow the channel.

[@markk1753]

🧡🤙 Thank You!

[@Dnilabs]

good stuff :)

[@agslai]

Thank you so much, Ben!! Great info! I am curious. Now that I know how to peg-in & out, would that somehow benefit in terms of privacy? Would love to hear your feedback on this. Thanks.

[@BTCSessions]

Yeah you could actually benefit from switching between networks, especially if the amounts vary. At the very least it makes it more difficult than trying to track linearly on a single chain!

[@richiebtcrich7846]

At around 21:22 the Fee for sideswap into LBTC appears to change to 99.85% from the previous screen where it said 99.90% . Not a big difference, but any idea why ? Is the rate variable ?

[@VortexRadar]

This tutorial is OUTSTANDING! Thank you!! I love that it covers the whole process and gives you the best choices up front in terms of wallets and transfer methods. Seeing the benefit of setting up an initial large wallet with Phoenix Wallet and using Liquid Bitcoin along the way helps to explain a really practical benefit of Liquid Bitcoin that I didn't understand before too.

[@VortexRadar]

Got everything set up. Thanks again for the walkthrough. It sounds obvious in retrospect, but when testing out lightning transfers, make sure you transfer funds out first, not in, so that you make room and don't exceed your channel size, lol. One thing I wasn't expecting is the level of fees for going from lightning on Phoenix back to Liquid on Blockstream Green. Something that could be nice for this is to have Blockstream's software replicate Sideswap's functionality so we wouldn't need that intermediate step to convert BTC/Liquid. I like that they can handle Liquid/Lightning transfers.

[@kennethmiller8415]

Yes. Zero withdrawal fees with Swan.

[@ver3468]

Can you review the elipal wallet and see if it's any good to store my coins. Thanks. Love the content you bring

[@Mikeshakurs]

This is amazing

[@allroadsleadtobitcoin]

I have lots of BTC on Robinhood. Should I just wait until chain fees go down, or is there something else I can do.

[@user-ut9fq6bd6u]

Does anyone know if US bitcoin brokerages require some kind of proof of source for Bitcoin deposits (the intention is to sell some) and if so, are there any that don't? Thanks!

[@Mrmarkwilliams99]

if you close this large lightning channel, are the funds used to open it, retrived with no fees?

[@BTCSessions]

Closing a large channel will just incur an on-chain fee, like sending a regular bitcoin transaction.

[@jackw_]

Ben, I didn't realize that a seed phrase generated by BIP85 could be used for a lightning wallet. I thought a seed generated by Phoenix was different from a standard seed phrase?

[@BTCSessions]

Yup you can absolutely do this. The key is to not use that seed in any other wallet afterwards because it can mess with your channels.

[@michaelsheepo9315]

Would you still use this now that we have AQUA WALLET

[@robertpeace2116]

Is there an exchange in the US that has the liquid option?

[@BTCSessions]

If you scroll down on this link it shows all the entities that currently work with Liquid. I'm unsure what exchanges are in the US but take a peek through! blockstream.com/liquid/

[@stevehk1800]

Any options like Strike or Swan to us not in the US or Canada?

[@BTCSessions]

I'm unsure which exchanges cover the on-chain tx fee during withdrawal, but I believe Strike/Cashapp might

[@petronilademetridas1599]

The anticipated rise in Bitcoin's value and its potential widespread adoption mark a transformative moment in the financial sector, driven by the expected approval of Bitcoin ETFs and increasing interest from nation-states. This shift indicates a significant influx of institutional investment into Bitcoin, positioning it as a crucial asset for wealth preservation and an alternative to traditional fiat currencies. For investors, this represents an opportunity to diversify portfolios and capitalize on the digital economy's growth,.....I've personally benefited from following Francine Duguay's trading tactics, amassing 26 bitcoins in a short two-month period, which speaks volumes about her expertise.

[@petronilademetridas1599]

@FrancineDuguay

[@petronilademetridas1599]

She's often interacts on Telegrams, using the user-name

[@TatianaMoiseeva4]

This is very impressive , meeting Francine Duguay has been a blessing , I never thought I would make so much profits in such a considerably brief period of time.

[@14lou]

It's a great shame that Francine Duguay turned out to be a *SCAMMER*

[@bharaths1780]

hi, which method is the best for transferring SATs from a wallet of Satoshi to a hardware wallet with low fees?

[@BTCSessions]

So if you have funds in custodial lightning like WoS already, I suppose it depends on how much. If it's a large amount you can just send directly from WoS to your cold storage (it will swap for you). This will incur a fee. However, if you're in the process of building up some savings in the medium term and on-chain fees don't yet make economic sense, I would get a Liquid Wallet (Blockstream green maybe) and use Boltz to swap to Liquid. It'll be super cheap to do so.

[@BTCSessions]

Keep in mind that the hardware devices currently supporting liquid are Blockstream Jade and I THINK Ledger. Hopefully others will offer support soon.

[@pilotboba]

I have like $6 in my WoS. At this point, I'll probably just donate it to some BTC project or youtube and call it done. :)

[@BitcoinAndChess]

How is Liquid Bitcoin any different than trusting a 3rd party like wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC)? Same thing, same risks, right?

[@BTCSessions]

wBTC is stored with Bitgo, whereas liquid is a federated multisig across many different geographically dispersed entities. Bitgo could (and likely does) use multisig, but they are still one company, domiciled in a single jurisdiction.

[@radical_carnage]

This is a lot of steps. The more seed phrases and steps we have to manage, the more prone to mistakes the process becomes. Wouldn’t it be more efficient to just lengthen your DCA interval, make bigger buys ($1000+), and send directly to cold storage?

[@14lou]

Ben explains how to manage seed phrases through BIP85.

[@cryptoslacker-464]

Im going to have to make the switch to lighting. Im raking up stupid fees buying coffee and paying 20 percent transaction fess. Also 100 dollars is now sitting in mans land , costing more than that to get it back lol. 😅

[@brianriley2514]

Ben, great video. I was looking forward to this one. How does moving funds through Liquid affect privacy?

[@BTCSessions]

There are definitely benefits! On Liquid itself, amounts and assets transacted are shielded from public view. There's also an argument to be made in favor of privacy just by the mere act of swapping into and out of the network itself.

[@infopocalypse5006]

Good info. Still trying to see (for me) when I would want this over xfering from Strike (has no fee option) directly to Cold card or directly to Pheonix. I get that Liquid can go to cold storage(cool) but don't know when I'd opt for that over the Cold card. For privacy it would be great if more people/businesses accept the L-btc option.

[@ds78349]

I use strike as well, the no fee option confused me. When you send BTC out of strike to cold storage you are still paying the on chain fee. By "no fee" they mean no additional fee to get into a block that will be verified sooner.

[@infopocalypse5006]

@@ds78349 so it means that strike pays the fee to the miners to do the transaction. Exchanges can do this because they batch so many withdraws together into a single transaction at once that it is cheap (avg per withdraw)for them. And it's a good advertising point for them to draw customers.

[@marcosc.g.9848]

Buen video. Resido en Europa y uso el Euro. ¿Hay otra alternativa a BullBitcoin y poder usar Euro? Gracias

[@bestfunyvideo]

kraken,binance,relai

[@Chris-zu4es]

36:36 not teally cheap is it? 468 cents thats $4,58 0.5% bolt fee. why not change it in my binance or coinbase wallet for free?

[@InterstellarBountyHunter521]

Great video. I'm new to liquid and slightly familiar with lightning but I have a question. What purpose would a lightning wallet serve an individual if they can transact in liquid through Sideswap and lightning through Boltz. Only thing that comes to mind immediately is ease of use since you won't have to go through the Boltz process but is there something I'm missing? Why not only use liquid and Boltz in place of lightning?

[@BTCSessions]

I'd say primarily because you'll be waiting on the liquid confirmation, and if anything goes wrong in your TX, it wasn't even going to your own wallet so you have more difficult things to deal with. Since most places won't accept liquid, I can see it being a pain trying to pull up boltz ever time you want to pay in lightning - it's easier just to streamline and swap some LBTC into your Lightning wallet for spending purposes.

[@InterstellarBountyHunter521]

@@BTCSessions Thanks for the response. So for my setup I'm imagining lightning serving as a cash essentially in liquidity terms while liquid would be more of a checking account and on chain cold storage being savings. Am I thinking of this right?

[@DaemonKrusher]

@@InterstellarBountyHunter521 what is this liquid? I've heard of it but is it trustworthy?

[@kbs7340]

I really really want to do this but omg sounds painful for me. I will try when my head is ready. 🤪

[@BTCSessions]

@@kbs7340 the simplest way to give it a go is just do a regular withdrawal from your exchange to Sideswap Wallet. Go to the "peg in" screen and send BTC directly there. You'll automatically be on the Liquid Network.

[@travisoneal586]

When you generate a new seed phrase, is it possible to generate a seed phrase that someone else already generated and used?

[@Wolf-wd9cd]

Theoretically yes, but in practice its extremely unlikely. The number of different wallets is such a huge number that each atom in the known universe could have its own unique wallet.

[@travisoneal586]

@@Wolf-wd9cd I wonder if it is possible to add something to the code that looks to see if the address was generated previously.

[@pilotboba]

@@travisoneal586 No that's the whole point of seeds. There is no way to get from a pub/xpub/private address to a seed. :) Of course, if there is a bug in the implementation... If you generate a seed and there is BTC in the account, would you be nice and not touch it?

[@Ex_impius]

5.5 million sats on liquid... nice

[@06460658]

Maybe we can use BCH as second layer to send btcs lol 😆

[@3m4il]

Remake & edit this video to be explained more briefly to reach more people. It deserves to be known.

[@simonmaersk]

If the exchange you are buying Bitcoin from doesn't have a withdrawal fee, then why not just withdraw it straight to your cold storage? Then you have paid no fees.

[@smm24hpanel9]

💙

[@ROImediaGuy]

OMG why is it so hard to move BTC (cheaply) from exchange to a cold wallet so difficult? Is daisy chaining transfers from A-B-C-Coldwallet really necessary? Why doesn't coldcard simply enable a way to zap BTC from exchange to device using lightning?

[@ryangridley543]

@BTCSessions how many on chain fees and UTXOs are in this process -- buy from the exchange, transfer to sideswap (1 on chain charge and UTXO), sideswap peg in (small fee but not on chain), peg out back on chain (small fee but not on chain), transfer to hardware wallet (1 on chain charge and UTXO) Am I doing my math wrong lol?? 2 on chain charges and 2 UTXOs?

[@Chris-zu4es]

so if I understand this correct liquid bitcoin is NOT bitcoin at all? they have 2 totally different values and you can not send to each other's wallets? I got confused because it's like saying "I'm gonna teach you to go grocery shopping and paying with plastic bags. first you go to the market and sell the plastic bags and then you take that cash and go to the grocery shopping, that's how you pay at a grocery store with plastic bags"

[@bchad5793]

Great thumbnail. Using bitcoin cash onchain is a great way to reduce fees.

[@BTCSessions]

Yeah but then you have bitcoin cash.

[@danielwalker1340]

Sorry for what I'm sure will be a hugely ignorant question, but I don’t understand why you need to send from the Jade to the Sparrow/Coldcard near the end of the video. Up until that point I was under the impression that the Jade was the end point cold wallet for your BTC self custodying in all of this.

[@BTCSessions]

So this part was just personal preference. Technically speaking you can secure both Liquid Bitcoin and regular on-chain Bitcoin with your Jade. You were totally correct there. I just happen to really like Coldcard & Sparrow wallet for my on-chain long term storage :)

[@danielwalker1340]

​@BTCSessions Many thanks for clarifying Ben. I've now watched this twice and will probably watch it once more actually as this session is so completely rammed with useful stuff. My exchange is Kraken so I don't think the liquid stacking and use of SideSwap is probably something for me to do right now. However I am really struggling with the fees atm as am trying to set up some hidden wallets on my Trezor plus start making some purchases with BTC, along with gradually shifting off exchange to my cold wallet. In relation to what you explain here wrt opening and making use of a large channel on Phoenix for receiving and sending, does this apply to Muun as well?

[@Taxidermista_de_Phobos]

I wouldn't call "cheap" a 0.25% exchange fee.

[@yorionenthusiast170]

Strike withdrawal fee is free but their spread is 2%

[@stacy9497]

The spread is actually 1% on Strike

[@StuffBudDuz]

The audio is very raspy compared to in the past when I used to tune in. The "s" sounds are especially harsh and distracting. Hard to listen. FYI.

[@14lou]

Perfect audio for me, check your settings

[@contagionisafraud]

I know Newton does not! However, the last time I purchased BTC they requested a picture from my camera before proceeding. So FN creepy!

[@BTCSessions]

You should check out Bull Bitcoin - you can buy bitcoin with cash from the post office! No ID required.

[@contagionisafraud]

Awesome! I will, thank you! @@BTCSessions

[@above7833]

Never ever sell your Bitcoin Try 2 never sell your Bitcoin

[@DecentralEyes]

Useless video as bullbitcoin doesn’t accept £ GBP 🇬🇧

[@pythone.g.account5355]

lightning is complete nonsense

[@BTCSessions]

Is it tho? I use it every day.

[@robtmil51]

Use it. I can send cash to a btc address and it converts on the fly. You might want to understand what you criticize.

[@14lou]

Useful, so makes sense, not nonsense

[@DescentralizaClub]

You rock Ben

[@arbo3495]

This doesn't make any sense. You minimized fees only because the exchange paid them for you. If you have sats you own there's no way not to be screwed by fees.

[@danielwilson1105]

How frickin complicated 😂 half a dozen apps. A bunch of wallets. My gosh. So crypto.