Bitcoin - The Currency of the Internet

Bitcoin Newcomers FAQ - Please read!

2026-05-26T13:13:49+00:00

Welcome to the /r/Bitcoin Newcomers FAQ

You've probably been hearing a lot about Bitcoin recently and are wondering what's the big deal? Most of your questions should be answered by the resources below but if you have additional questions feel free to ask them in the comments.

It all started with the release of Satoshi Nakamoto's whitepaper however that will probably go over the head of most readers so we recommend the following articles/books/videos as a good starting point for understanding how Bitcoin works and a little about its long term potential:

Some other great educational resources include;

The Satoshi Nakamoto Institute (check them out!)
SatoshiTimeline.com
Swan Bitcoin Canon
Michael Saylor's Hope.com and "Bitcoin for Everybody"' course
Bitcoinfo.org resource page
Gigi's resource page
James D'Angelo's Bitcoin 101 Blackboard series
Parker Lewis's Gradually Then Suddenly series
Some Bitcoin statistics can be found here (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11).
A Reading List of Advanced Bitcoin Books
The statewide Bitcoin strategic reserve race

If you are technically or academically inclined check out;

Developer resources (1, 2)
Peer-reviewed research papers
Course lectures from both MIT and Princeton
Future protocol improvements and scaling resources.

MicroStrategy's Bitcoin for Corporations is an excellent open source series on corporate legal and financial Bitcoin integration.

You can also see the number of times Bitcoin was declared dead by the media (LOL!)

Key properties of Bitcoin

Limited Supply - There will only ever be a maximum of 21,000,000 bitcoins created and they are issued in a predictable fashion per the inflation schedule. Once they are all issued Bitcoin will be truly deflationary. The halving countdown tells you approximately how much time until the next block reward halving.
Open source - Bitcoin code is fully auditable. You can read and contribute to the source code yourself.
Accountable - The public ledger is transparent, all transactions are seen by everyone.
Decentralized - Bitcoin is globally distributed across thousands of nodes with no single point of failure and as such can't be shut down similar to how Bittorrent works. You can even run a node on a Raspberry Pi.
Censorship resistant - No one can prevent you from interacting with the Bitcoin network and no one can censor, alter or block transactions that they disagree with, see Operation Chokepoint.
Push system - There are no chargebacks in Bitcoin because only the person who owns the address where the bitcoin resides has the authority to move them.
Borderless - No country can stop it from going in/out, even in areas currently unserved by traditional banking as the ledger is globally distributed.
Trustless - Bitcoin solved the Byzantine's Generals Problem which means nobody needs to trust anybody for it to work.
Pseudonymous - No need to expose personal information when purchasing with cash or transacting.
Secure - Blocks and transactions are cryptographically secured (using hashes and signatures) and can’t be brute forced or confiscated with proper key management such as hardware wallets.
Programmable - Individual units of bitcoin can be programmed to transfer based on certain criteria being met
Divisible - Each bitcoin can be divided down to 8 decimals, which means you don't have to worry about buying an entire bitcoin.
Nearly instant - From a few seconds on the Lightning Network to a few minutes on-chain depending on need for confirmations. Transactions are irreversible by normal users after one confirmation and irreversible by anyone (including miners) after 6 confirmations.
Peer-to-peer - No intermediaries taking a cut, no need for trusted third parties.
Designed Money - Bitcoin was created to fit all the fundamental properties of money better than gold or fiat.
Portable - Bitcoin are digital so they are easier to move than cash or gold. They can be transported by simply carrying a seed (a string of 12 to 24 words) on a device or by memorizing it for wallet recovery (while cool, memorizing is generally not recommended due to potential for forgetting the seed and the potential for insecure key generation by inexperienced users. Hardware wallets are the preferred method for most users for their ease of use and additional security).
Low fee scaling - Most wallets calculate on chain fees automatically but you can view fee estimates and mempool activity if you want to set your fee manually. On chain fees may rise occasionally due to network demand, however instant micropayments that do not require confirmations are happening via the Lightning Network, an open source second layer payment protocol built on top of the Bitcoin blockchain. The Lightning Network enables Bitcoin users to instantly send and receive bitcoin with fees so low that they are negligible.
Scalable - While the protocol is still being optimized for increased transaction capacity, blockchains do not scale very well, so most transaction volume is expected to occur on Layer 2 networks built on top of Bitcoin.

Where can I buy bitcoin?

Bitcoin.org and BuyBitcoinWorldwide.com are helpful sites for beginners. You can buy or sell any amount of bitcoin (even just a few dollars worth) and there are several easy methods to purchase bitcoin with cash, credit card or bank transfer. Some of the more popular places to buy bitcoin are listed below.

You can also purchase in cash with local ATMs. If you would like your paycheck automatically converted to bitcoin try Bitwage. For comparing bitcoin loans, Borrow On Bitcoin, may be a helpful tool.

Note: Bitcoin are valued at whatever market price people are willing to pay for them in balancing act of supply vs demand. Unlike traditional markets, bitcoin markets operate 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.

Securing your bitcoin

With Bitcoin you can "Be your own bank" and personally secure your bitcoin OR you can use third party companies aka "Bitcoin banks" which will hold your bitcoin for you.

If you prefer to "Be your own bank" and have direct control over your coins without having to use a trusted third party, then you will need to create your own wallet and keep it secure. If you want easy and secure storage without having to learn best computer security practices, then a hardware wallet such as a BitBox02, Trezor or Blockstream Jade is recommended. You can even build your own open source hardware wallets called a SeedSigner, Specter or Krux.
If you cannot afford a hardware wallet there are many software wallet options to choose from depending on your use case. Mobile wallets like BlueWallet are generally more secure than desktop wallets. Beware of fake mobile wallets and check reviews from reputable Bitcoin websites. Avoid paper wallets or brain wallets.
If you prefer to work with third party "Bitcoin banks" to set up a collaborative custody arrangement, try Unchained Capital but be aware that any third party you use exposes you to third party risk. There is a saying in the community, "Not your keys, not your coins".

Note: For increased security, use Two Factor Authentication (2FA) everywhere it is offered, including email!

2FA requires a second confirmation code or a physical security key to access your account making it much harder for thieves to gain access. Google Authenticator and Authy are the two most popular 2FA services, download links are below. Make sure you create backups of your 2FA codes.

Avoid using your cell number for 2FA. Hackers have been using a technique called "SIM swapping" to impersonate users and steal bitcoin off exchanges.

Google Auth	Authy	OTP Auth
Android	Android	N/A
iOS	iOS	iOS

Physical security keys (FIDO U2F) offer stronger security than Google Auth / Authy and other TOTP-based apps, because the secret code never leaves the device and it uses bi-directional authentication so it prevents phishing. If you lose the device though, you could lose access to your account, so always use 2 or more security keys with a given account so you have backups. See Yubikey or Titan to purchase security keys.

Running Bitcoin

You can run Bitcoin node software by downloading and installing Bitcoin Core or other node software you have vetted.

It is a best practice to verify these Bitcoin node programs you download by checking their hashes and signatures.

Don't Trust, Verify.

A verified Bitcoin node running on your own hardware is your sovereign gateway to the Bitcoin network. They can be used alongside open source software wallets to send and receive Bitcoin securely. By running your own Bitcoin node, you enforce the Bitcoin ruleset, can verify transactions without trusted 3rd party middlemen, improve your Bitcoin privacy, obtain independence with local access to blockchain data, and help bolster the robustness of the Bitcoin network. By running a Bitcoin node, you are verifying that Bitcoin is Bitcoin for yourself. For more details on running a Bitcoin node see this article.

For wallets used alongside your Bitcoin node: If your Bitcoin wallet software is fully open source and Bitcoin-only, then it is probably a decent wallet. Some popular examples include sparrow wallet and electrum wallet, both of which you can connect to your own locally run Bitcoin node, and use with most Bitcoin Hardware Wallets.

Watch out for scams

As mentioned above, Bitcoin is decentralized, which by definition means there is no official website or Twitter handle or spokesperson or CEO. However, all money attracts thieves. This combination unfortunately results in scammers running official sounding names or pretending to be an authority on YouTube or social media. Many scammers throughout the years have claimed to be the inventor of Bitcoin. Websites like bitcoin(dot)com and the r / btc subreddit are active scams. Almost all altcoins are marketed heavily with big promises but are really just designed to separate you from your bitcoin. So be careful: any resource, including all linked in this document, may in the future turn evil. As they say in our community, "Don't trust, verify".

Avoid using ad-based search engines like Google or Yahoo: ads are shown based on how much the advertiser bids, and scammers can easily outbid legitimate providers for ad space, since immoral ways of earning money are far more lucrative than moral ways. Use DuckDuckGo instead, which has no ads, and never tracks you as well.
Ignore private messages offering services.
Never enter your seed words in a website of any kind. Hardware wallets will recover by displaying possible seed words on their own interface, never on a website.
Always check addresses on your hardware wallet before sending or receiving. Some malware has been known to replace addresses in your web browser or that you copy-and-paste.
Avoid clicking on links like that look like links, such as https://www.google.com/, without first hovering over it and actually checking where they go to. Just because a link is labelled with an HTTPS address does not mean it actually sends you to that address. It is trivial for someone to comment a link on Reddit that looks like it will send you to one website when it actually sends you to another, and you might not notice the difference until a scammer has gotten all your money, or you have downloaded and installed software that steals your money.

Common Bitcoin Myths

Often the same concerns arise about Bitcoin from newcomers. Questions such as:

Will quantum computers break Bitcoin?
Will governments ban Bitcoin?
Is Bitcoin a Ponzi scheme?

All of these questions have been answered many times by a variety of people. Here are some resources where you can see if your concern has been answered:

Where can I spend bitcoin?

Check out Travala, or Coinmap for a plethora of merchant options. You can also spend bitcoin anywhere Visa is accepted with bitcoin debit cards such as the CashApp card, Fold card or other bitcoin debit cards. Some other useful site are listed below.

Store	Product
Coincards.com, Bitrefill, Gyft, and Fold App	Gift cards for thousands of retailers worldwide including Amazon, Target, Walmart, Starbucks, Whole Foods, CVS, Lowes, Home Depot, iTunes, Best Buy, Sears, Kohls, eBay, GameStop, etc.
Overstock, and The Bitcoin Directory	Retail shopping with millions of results
NewEgg and Dell	For all your electronics needs
Bitrefill, Bylls, LivingRoomofSatoshi, Swapin and Coins.ph	Bill payment
Menufy and Takeaway	Takeout delivered to your door
Expedia, Cheapair, Destinia, SkyTours, the Travel category on Gyft and 9flats	For when you need to get away
Cryptostorm, Mullvad, and PIA	VPN services
Namecheap, Porkbun	Domain name registration
Stampnik	Discounted USPS Priority, Express, First-Class mail postage

There are also lots of charities which accept bitcoin donations.

Merchant Resources

There are several benefits to accepting bitcoin as a payment option if you are a merchant;

1-3% savings over credit cards or PayPal.
No chargebacks (final settlement in 10 minutes as opposed to 3+ months).
Accept business from a global customer base.
Convert 100% of the sale to the currency of your choice for deposit to your account, or choose to keep a percentage of the sale in bitcoin if you wish to begin accumulating it.

If you are interested in accepting bitcoin as a payment method, there are several options available;

Can I mine bitcoin?

Mining bitcoin can be a fun learning experience, but be aware that you will most likely operate at a loss. Newcomers are often advised to stay away from mining unless they are only interested in it as a hobby similar to folding at home. If you want to learn more about mining you can read the mining FAQ. Still have mining questions? The crew at /r/BitcoinMining would be happy to help you out.

If you want to contribute to the Bitcoin network by hosting the blockchain and propagating transactions there are many great resources you can use to run a full node. You can view the global distribution of reachable Bitcoin nodes on this webpage.

Earning bitcoin

Just like any other form of money, you can also earn bitcoin by being paid to do a job.

Site	Description
WorkingForBitcoins, Bitwage, Coinality, Bitgigs, /r/Jobs4Bitcoins	Freelancing
Lolli	Earn bitcoin when you shop online!

You can also earn bitcoin by participating as a market maker on JoinMarket by allowing users to perform CoinJoin transactions with your bitcoin for a small fee (requires you to already have some bitcoin).

Bitcoin-Related Projects

The following is a short list of ongoing projects that might be worth taking a look at if you are interested in current development in the Bitcoin space.

Project	Description
Lightning Network	Second layer scaling
Liquid and Rootstock	Sidechains
Hivemind	Prediction markets
DropZone and Beaver	Decentralized markets
JoinMarket, JAM app and Wasabi	CoinJoin implementation
Peer-to-Peer Exchanges	Peer-to-peer exchanges
Keybase	Identity & Reputation management
Abra	Global P2P money transmitter network
Bitcore	Open source Bitcoin javascript library

Bitcoin Units

One bitcoin is worth quite a lot (thousands of £/$/€), so people often deal in smaller units. The most common subunits are listed below:

Unit	Symbol	Value	Info
bitcoin	BTC	1 bitcoin	one bitcoin is equal to 100 million satoshis
millibitcoin	mBTC	1,000 per bitcoin	used as default unit in Electrum wallet
bit	μBTC	1,000,000 per bitcoin	colloquial "slang" term for microbitcoin
satoshi	sat	100,000,000 per bitcoin	smallest unit in bitcoin, named after the inventor

For example, assuming an arbitrary exchange rate of $10,000 for one bitcoin, a $10 meal would equal:

0.001 BTC
1 mBTC
1,000 bits
100,000 sats

For more information check out the bitcoin units wiki.

Still have questions? Feel free to ask in the comments below or stick around for our weekly Mentor Monday thread. If you decide to post a question in /r/Bitcoin, please use the search bar to see if it has been answered before, and remember to follow the community rules outlined on the sidebar to receive a better response. The mods are busy helping manage our community, so please do not message them unless you notice problems with the functionality of the subreddit.

Note: This is a community created FAQ. If you notice anything missing from the FAQ or that requires clarification, you can edit it here and it will be included in the next revision pending approval.

Welcome to the Bitcoin community and the new decentralized economy!

Please note that this thread will be moderated and non-constructive comments will be removed.

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Daily Discussion, October 11, 2026

2026-10-11T07:00:45+00:00

Please utilize this sticky thread for all general Bitcoin discussions! If you see posts on the front page or /r/Bitcoin/new which are better suited for this daily discussion thread, please help out by directing the OP to this thread instead. Thank you!

If you don't get an answer to your question, you can try phrasing it differently or commenting again tomorrow.

Please check the previous discussion thread for unanswered questions.

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Aftermath of a failed bitcoin mining operation.

2026-10-11T21:12:48+00:00

My friends father was renting space on his farm for a bitcoin mining operation.

The operation became unprofitable. The mining operation went bankrupt. The company came in and took everything out of the 6 antmain bit-boxes (converted shipping containers).

The photos are what they left behind. Mostly Antminer S19 units and even more asic boards.

Plenty of antmain rack PDUs. Some 480VAC breaker panels. A 480VAC switch unit.

The land owner did accept the mess voluntarily. He is breaking the equipment down for scrap value.

I wonder, is there a better price available out there above scrap value?

Is this normal?

FWIW, I used the term failed very tongue-in-cheek. I estimate the operation mined millions in this operation.

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situation today 🤷‍♂️

2026-10-11T23:22:29+00:00

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Even the nano S is not safe anymore

2026-10-11T22:08:35+00:00

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If you're homeless just buy bitcoin

2026-10-11T10:40:22+00:00

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Another ColdCard hack

2026-10-12T02:43:17+00:00

They can't catch a break lmao

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Everyone thinks they're too late when they discover Bitcoin

2026-10-11T18:58:06+00:00

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Which wallet now?

2026-10-11T16:29:11+00:00

So after all these wallet problems, which one is still a good choice? Or what's the safest way to hodl?

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how does Sparrow Wallet work? i already use Trezor Suite, what extra benefit could it provide without complicating custody?

2026-10-12T00:30:42+00:00

title

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F coldcard and ledger and the next one

2026-10-11T12:24:33+00:00

First the coldcard retirement attack, now the ledger supply chain attack. Hearts go out to the folks who used these devices.

In the case of coinkite, we learned how outspoken, arrogant, and duplicitous the founder rodolfo novak acted regularly. Including how he used many fake accounts on social media to prop up the image of "the best" and controlled several websites which acted like friendly guides and pointed users at his own compromised products.

What will we learn about ledger?

This seems like a more sophisticated attack that took a lot of money or expertise. Before today I would have laughed if someone mentioned a screen reading wire, esim, and supply chain attack. Surprised.

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Bitcoin Loans....

2026-10-11T22:52:06+00:00

This may be the wrong place to ask for financial advice but I figured I would throw it out there. I got a nice chunk of cash sat to the side and some BTC. I got 10k in debt and was considering taking the cash I was initially going to pay off the debt and adding it to my BTC stack. Afterwards, I would take my stack and use it as collateral for a loan. Based on what I found, Coinbase variable rates seems to fluctuate from about 5-13%, which 13% is half the interest rates on my credit cards. Has anyone done this?? Any downsides to doing this besides the obvious if the BTC price drops?? I would be looking to do a loan at about 40-50% LTV.

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Free OSS Scanner from Anthropic - core maintainers please sign up

2026-10-12T02:56:52+00:00

I see Anthropic has released a free security tool - requires core maintainers to sign up. It'd be reassuring if Bitcoin was in the list!

https://www.anthropic.com/research/launching-opt-in-vuln-finding-service-for-open-source

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How's your trade going?

2026-10-11T06:20:31+00:00

Why trade when you can hodl peacefully? Thoughts welcome.

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Close look at what hackers did with the Ledger Nano X

2026-10-10T17:17:44+00:00

Looks like the battery was removed and replaced with a smaller-capacity one to make room for a tracking device. Truly a dumb form factor. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2-0yy65h_E

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Member of r/bitcoin

2026-10-12T04:12:02+00:00

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How I sleep at night after being told FBTC is not my coins.

2026-10-10T23:08:26+00:00

Just remember guys, not your keys, not your coins. You don't want to risk somebody hacking fidelity and stealing all of their Bitcoin.

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Spotted today in Vienna

2026-10-10T16:31:09+00:00

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The ULTIMATE $BTC Ticker — Macintosh SE/30 edition

2026-10-11T10:43:07+00:00

My Macintosh SE/30 now has a new job: displaying Bitcoin prices and network stats on its little monochrome screen.

It’s running System 7.1 with just 4 MB of RAM. I put together a native 68k application called BlockMiner, written in C and compiled with Retro68.

The setup uses a BlueSCSI V2 with a Pico 2 W for storage and Wi-Fi networking, through DaynaPORT emulation and MacTCP. A small proxy running on a modern Mac fetches the data over HTTPS and serves a simple response the SE/30 can handle.

The app displays BTC/USD, the 24-hour change, block height, mempool size, transaction count and recommended fees. There’s also a full-screen mode with a big price display, and automatic updates every minute.

It’s a read-only monitor—the SE/30 gets to enjoy a peaceful retirement watching the numbers.

Getting the networking working took some troubleshooting, but it’s finally running on the actual hardware!

Pretty happy with how well Bitcoin fits into 512 × 342 pixels. 🖥️₿

(sorry for the CRT shutter speed frames from the camera)

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I opened my jade wallet

2026-10-11T04:54:06+00:00

I just open my Jade wallet but I don’t have any knowledge for checking is it ok or not.
Can you guys help me?

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What is actually happening with hardware wallets in 2026?

2026-10-11T06:18:36+00:00

Hi everyone!

I actually wanted to ask what is going on with hardware wallets over the past few months, or more specifically, throughout 2026.

To be honest, I have never seen this many security incidents in such a short period of time. From Ledger and Trezor to Tangem, Coldcard, D'Cent Wallet, and others, it seems like the entire hardware wallet industry is facing serious security challenges.

And now we're hearing about devices being shipped with SIM cards installed and fake devices potentially making their way to customers. This is getting ridiculous.

Of course, hacks and security incidents have always happened, but I don't remember seeing so many different wallet manufacturers being affected within such a short period.

What is actually causing all of this? Is there something specific driving this wave of attacks in 2026, or is it simply that these incidents are getting more attention than they used to?

I'd genuinely like to hear your thoughts and opinions on what's happening in the hardware wallet industry right now.

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Great analyis about whats going on with bitcoin in the market

2026-10-12T01:53:37+00:00

Talks about current market scenario, October historical pattern and bitcoin halving pattern.

https://www.tiktok.com/@dollarindex/video/7695476084237798670

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This cost $22 in LA, buy bitcoin

2026-10-10T12:29:06+00:00

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Could 2-of-2 multisig be a reasonable middle ground between single-sig and 2-of-3?

2026-10-11T06:30:04+00:00

Recent incidents like the Coldcard entropy vulnerability and the reported hardware implant found in a Ledger device sold through CryptoBilis have made me rethink how I secure my self-custodied Bitcoin.

A BIP-39 passphrase can help if someone gets your seed, but what if a compromised device can also capture your passphrase or interfere with the signing process? Single-sig still leaves you relying on one key, creating a potential single point of failure.

For people who find 2-of-3 multisig too expensive or complicated, could 2-of-2 be a reasonable alternative?

I'm thinking of using two independently generated keys in separate environments. For example, a PC wallet (Electrum or Sparrow) paired with a mobile wallet (BlueWallet or Nunchuk), or a hardware wallet (Trezor or Ledger) paired with a PC or mobile wallet. If one device is compromised through a supply chain attack, the attacker would still need the second key to spend the funds. Of course, using different devices and apps only helps if the keys and their backups are genuinely independent.

I know the biggest objection is that 2-of-2 has no redundancy. Lose either key permanently and your Bitcoin is gone. That's a serious trade-off, and I understand why people prefer 2-of-3. But if both keys and their backups are managed carefully, could the added protection against a single compromised device be worth it?

I'm not suggesting 2-of-2 is better than 2-of-3. I'm wondering whether it's an overlooked middle ground for people who want to reduce single points of failure without taking on the full cost and complexity of 2-of-3.

What do you think? Would you consider this setup, or does the risk of losing access outweigh the security benefits?

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Which method has higher entropy in seedsigner?

2026-10-11T13:21:22+00:00

In order to generate seed phrase in Seedsigner we have two methods. Dice rolls and camera. Which method gives higher entropy?

Camera method: Example: Splitting my laptop screen into four or five parts and each one has a different colorful video playing and take a picture?
Use dice rolls?

Also, in some newer versions of seedsigner there’s one with a smart card slot which allows you to save the seed phrase into a card for easier use without the need to scan the seed QR every time .. what do you think about it? Is it safe? Does it have any potentials to be hacked or read by other parties equipments?

Thank you

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