Bitcoin has shown tremendous growth in 2017, with its price touching $20,000 and its introduction on to the futures exchanges. As a result, the BTC network is overloaded at the end of the year. Massive transaction delays are reported by all wallet operators, and network fees reach up to hundreds of dollars in equivalent.
Freewallet recommends flash transfers or instant off-chain transactions among our users as a way to save your time and money. Flash transfers take literally seconds to be completed; plus there are no fees associated with them.
“In December 2017, BTC network fees can be as high as $100 and more. That is, of course, if you don’t want to watch your transaction stuffed in the mempoolwaiting to be picked up by the miners. Since flash transfers are performed off the Bitcoin network, they are delivered instantly, and Freewallet has never charged users for making transactions,” Alvin Hagg, Freewallet co-founder, explains.
UPDATE: We received a lot of requests for step-by-step instructions on flash transfers, so here’s a short guide. Sending funds between Freewallet users is lightning quick, you can do it in 3 simple steps:
1. Open your wallet app (or use the web version) and go to Send.
2. Type down the sum you’d like to send and put another Freewallet user’s email address or user id as a destination.
If you’re thinking about sending funds to someone who doesn’t have a Freewallet account yet, just use his/her email: we’ll create a wallet and follow up with the instructions on how to receive the funds you sent them.
3. If you’d like to drop a line to the recipient, you can do it in the Comment section. Now hit Send, and the funds will be available for the other party instantly!