Follow a payment from request to receipt · Sikh Bitcoin

By the end, you’ll be able to…

Describe authorization, broadcast and settlement.
Identify the recipient’s evidence of payment.

Your learning map

Three questions to carry into this lesson.

01Describe authorization, broadcast and settlement.

02Identify the recipient’s evidence of payment.

Use these goals to guide your reading. Try the paper exercise, then explain the result in your own words.

A request is not a transfer

An invoice states what a recipient would like to receive. It may contain an amount, destination, expiry and order reference. Opening or copying it does not move money. A wallet can construct a proposed transaction from spendable outputs; an authorized signer must then approve the transaction. The application’s appearance is not evidence that authorization occurred.

Broadcast is the beginning of a network journey

Once broadcast, an on-chain transaction can propagate between nodes and may be selected by a miner for a block. Different wallets and services can observe it at different times. A delay can reflect connectivity, policy, fees or competing transactions. A transaction identifier helps locate a particular record, but its presence on an explorer does not establish that the recipient’s settlement conditions have been met.

Close the loop with the recipient

For a fictional design commission, the artist checks the invoice in their own receiving system and follows the agreed confirmation policy before delivery. A buyer’s screenshot is useful context, not the authoritative receipt. Keep the order reference and payment state separate from the file-delivery record. If something disagrees, compare those records through a known contact route before attempting another payment.

Your turn / A paper experiment

Practice on paper

Arrange these fictional events: the buyer approves; the artist creates an invoice; a block includes the transaction; the wallet broadcasts; the artist records settlement under their policy.

I’ve tried it — show the worked answer

Invoice → approval → broadcast → block inclusion → settlement check. A particular policy can require more confirmations. The invoice and approval alone do not prove that the artist received usable funds.

Want to explore with buttons and instant feedback? Try the practice lab ↗

Think it through

Make a choice. Discover why.

Choose an answer and check the explanation. You can retry as often as you like. These are practice questions, not a test of mastery; answers are not saved or sent.

1. Does opening an invoice transfer funds?

Read the explanation

No. A request and authorization are separate.

2. Which record should an artist verify?

Only the buyer’s screenshot
Their own receiving record and settlement conditions

Read the explanation

Their own record. Screenshots can be mistaken or fabricated.

One idea to take with you

Track a payment’s state before deciding what happens next.

Your learning, at your pace

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