How to verify an address with a Satoshi Test

When you withdraw on-chain to a new address, Bitaroo asks you to prove that the address belongs to a wallet you control.

A satoshi test is one way to do this: you send a tiny, exact amount of bitcoin from that address. Because only the owner of an address can send from it, a successful send proves you control it.

A satoshi test moves real bitcoin and waits for an on-chain confirmation, so it is slower and costs a little more than the other methods. If your wallet can sign a message, or you can share an extended public key, those are quicker. Use the satoshi test when those options do not suit you.

How it works

1. Bitaroo needs to see a small, exact payment sent from the address you are withdrawing to.
2. First the address needs a little bitcoin to send. You can let Bitaroo send a small amount to it (a service fee applies), or you can fund it yourself.
3. You then send the exact test amount from that address to a Bitaroo address.
4. Once your transaction confirms on the network, the address is verified and your withdrawal continues.

What it costs

• If Bitaroo funds the address: a small service fee is deducted from your Bitaroo balance, Bitaroo sends a small amount to your address, and you send the (smaller) test amount back. The screen shows the full breakdown and the "effective cost". You also pay the miner fee for sending the test amount back.
• If you fund the address yourself: there is no service fee. You only pay the normal miner fees for your own transactions.

Either way the amounts involved are tiny. The main cost is the miner fee and the short wait for a confirmation.

Which method should I use?

If your wallet can sign a message, message signing is faster and free. If you are comfortable sharing an extended public key, that is also quicker. The satoshi test is the most involved option, so it is best kept for when the others are not available to you.

Before you start

• Use the wallet that owns the address you are withdrawing to. You must be able to send from that exact address.
• The test must be the exact amount, sent from the exact address shown. A different amount, or a send from a different address, will not pass.
• Do not send from an exchange or other custodial account. Those send from their own addresses, not yours, so the test will fail.

Step 1: Choose Satoshi Test On the "Verify Address Ownership" screen, choose Satoshi Test.

Step 2: Get funds into the address If the address has no funds yet, Bitaroo shows two options: Let Bitaroo fund it. Review the breakdown (the service fee deducted from your Bitaroo balance, the amount Bitaroo sends to your address, the test amount you send back, and the effective cost), then select Fund Address & Start Test. Fund it yourself. Send a small amount to the nominated address from your wallet, then select I have funded it myself. If the address already holds funds, Bitaroo skips this step and goes straight to the next one.

Step 3: Send the exact amount back Bitaroo shows the exact test amount and a Bitaroo address to send it to. Send exactly the amount shown, from the nominated address, to the Bitaroo address shown. Once you have sent it, select I have sent the payment. The amount and the source address must both match exactly. A different amount, or a send from a different address, will not pass verification. New to sending from a specific address? The steps for Electrum and Sparrow are just below.

Sending from the exact address in Electrum or Sparrow

For the test to pass, the payment in Step 3 must come from the exact address shown by Bitaroo. Most wallets choose which coins to spend for you, so a normal send might draw from a different address. To make sure the payment leaves the right one, you select that address's coin yourself (the coin that was funded in Step 2). This is called coin control, and both Electrum and Sparrow support it.

Electrum Open Electrum and select the wallet that owns the address. Open the View menu and choose "Show Coins". A new Coins tab appears. On the Coins tab, find the coin at the address you are verifying. Right-click it and choose "Spend". If the address holds more than one coin, hold Ctrl and select each of them first. Go to the Send tab. Electrum now spends only the coins you selected. Paste the Bitaroo address into "Pay to" and enter the exact test amount in "Amount". Set a fee, select "Pay", and enter your wallet password if you are prompted. Broadcast the transaction, then return to Bitaroo and select "I have sent the payment".

Sparrow Open Sparrow and select the wallet that owns the address. Open the "UTXOs" tab in the left sidebar. Tick the coin at the address you are verifying. If the address holds more than one coin, hold Ctrl or Cmd and tick each of them. Then select "Send Selected". On the Send screen, paste the Bitaroo address, add a label if you wish, and enter the exact test amount. Only the coins you selected will be used. Select "Create Transaction", then "Finalize Transaction for Signing", "Sign", and "Broadcast Transaction". Return to Bitaroo and select "I have sent the payment".

Step 4: Wait for confirmation Bitaroo watches the network for your transaction. It will detect it as soon as it appears in the mempool, then wait for the first confirmation. You can safely close the dialog and keep using Bitaroo. The test completes automatically once your transaction is confirmed, so you do not need to wait on this screen.

Finishing in Bitaroo Once your transaction confirms, the address is marked as verified and your withdrawal continues. A verified address is remembered, so you will not need to repeat this for future withdrawals to the same address.

If the test does not pass

• "Failed to dispatch funding transaction." The most common cause is that you have no spare bitcoin in your Bitaroo balance. Letting Bitaroo fund the address takes a small service fee from that balance, so if all of your bitcoin is already committed to the withdrawal you are verifying, there is nothing left to take the fee from. There are three ways to free some up: cancel the withdrawal from Recently Sent and start it again for slightly less, which costs you nothing; deposit Australian dollars and buy a small amount; or deposit bitcoin directly. You can also skip Bitaroo funding altogether by sending a small amount to the nominated address from your own wallet and then selecting I have funded it myself. If your balance is not the problem, wait a moment and try again, and contact support if it keeps failing.
• Wrong amount. The amount received must be exactly the test amount shown. Send the exact figure, to all eight decimal places.
• Wrong source. The payment must come from the nominated address, not a different address and not an exchange or custodial account.
• It is taking a while. On-chain confirmation depends on the miner fee you set. A low fee can mean a longer wait. The test completes on its own once the transaction confirms on the blockchain.
• Cancelling. You can cancel the withdrawal at any time from Recently Sent. Note that any amount Bitaroo has already sent to fund your address cannot be reversed.

Privacy Matters

Bitaroo built this verification model to protect your privacy, as well as the privacy of all our other users.

The Travel Rule, introduced on 1 July 2026, forces exchanges to routinely share customers’ personally identifiable information and, in many cases, engage with globally centralised third parties (“Travel Rule Providers”) whenever bitcoin moves to or from a custodial service. Those arrangements often expose the exchange’s hot wallet to chain surveillance corporations, giving them visibility into the activity of all users transacting through it.

Bitaroo remains compliant by removing the need for these “information-sharing” arrangements altogether.

By verifying that you control your own wallet, we can keep your personal information out of unnecessary hands.

A Satoshi Test keeps the rest of your wallet private. It verifies control using only the small payment you send and does not reveal your other addresses or balances.

Like any on-chain spend, however, a Satoshi Test permanently reveals the public keys involved in that transaction and creates a small on-chain footprint linking the verified wallet to Bitaroo. While this is a much smaller privacy trade-off than sharing an extended public key, message signing remains the most privacy-preserving verification method where supported.

Still need help?

If you have tried the steps above and verification still fails, please contact our support team and we will help.