TL;DR: Open your wallet → go to Receive tab → copy your address (starts with 4 or 8) → share it with the sender. XMR arrives in ~2 minutes. Use a fresh subaddress for each sender for maximum privacy. You don't need to be online.
Quick Steps
Open your wallet — Feather, Cake Wallet, Monero GUI, or CLI. If you don't have one yet, set one up first.
Go to the Receive tab — Every wallet has a Receive section. This shows your address and QR code.
Generate a subaddress — Click "Create new address" or "New subaddress". Use one per sender for privacy. Subaddresses start with 8.
Share the address — Copy/paste the address or let the sender scan your QR code. The address is 95 characters long.
Wait for confirmation — The transaction appears within seconds. After ~2 minutes (1 block), it has 1 confirmation. After ~20 minutes (10 confirmations), it's fully spendable.
Receive tab → tap address to copy. Tap "+" for new subaddress. Set amount for payment requests.
Monero GUI
Receive page → address shown with QR. Click "Create new address" for subaddresses.
CLI Wallet
address shows primary. address new creates subaddress. show_transfers to check.
Confirmation Times
Stage
Time
What It Means
Unconfirmed (mempool)
~5 seconds
TX visible in wallet, not yet mined
1 confirmation
~2 minutes
Included in a block, very likely permanent
4 confirmations
~8 minutes
Virtually irreversible
10 confirmations
~20 minutes
Fully spendable, exchange standard
Why Use Subaddresses?
Monero's subaddresses are separate receiving addresses derived from your main address. They're unlinkable — no one can tell they belong to the same wallet. Use a new one for each sender to prevent them from correlating your payments.
Primary address: starts with 4 — your main address (95 characters)
Subaddress: starts with 8 — unlimited, free, unlinkable
Integrated address: starts with 4 (106 chars) — includes payment ID, deprecated in favor of subaddresses
Privacy tip: Never reuse the same address for different senders. Each subaddress is free and takes one click. Reusing addresses lets senders know they're paying the same person — bad for privacy.
Do I Need to Be Online?
No. Monero is received on the blockchain regardless of wallet state. Open your wallet later and it syncs automatically. You never miss a payment because your wallet was closed or your phone was off.
Verifying You Received XMR
Monero's privacy means you cannot look up your balance on a block explorer — that's the whole point. You verify receipt in your wallet:
Wallet balance updates automatically when synced
Transaction history shows incoming payments with timestamps
Payment proof: the sender can generate a proof using get_tx_key that you verify with check_tx_key
Summary
Receiving Monero is simple: open wallet, copy address, share it. XMR arrives in ~2 minutes. Use subaddresses for privacy. You don't need to be online. The sender cannot see your balance or other transactions — that's what makes Monero private.
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