bitcoin Term

What is UTXO?

Unspent Transaction Output: an unspent chunk of Bitcoin that can be used as an input in a new transaction.

Detailed Definition & Context

Bitcoin's state model does not use bank-like account balances. Instead, wallets scan the blockchain for all unspent transaction outputs tied to their public keys. Sending Bitcoin consumes existing UTXOs and creates new ones.

Practical Example

If you have a 0.5 BTC UTXO and want to buy something for 0.1 BTC, your transaction spends the full 0.5 BTC UTXO, generating 0.1 BTC to the merchant and 0.4 BTC change back to your address.

Related Concepts

SatoshiMempool

Interactive Tool

Calculate & Explore UTXO

Inspect verified balances, UTXOs, address formats, and total received BTC.

Open Bitcoin Address Lookup