Guide · Privacy & fees
Fees and privacy: the settings that matter
Most people leave a wallet at its defaults and never think about the two things it exposes: what you pay and who can see what you hold. Both are adjustable.
01
Choosing a fee level
Fees are paid to the network, not the app, and they decide how quickly your transaction confirms.
| Level | What it means | Use it when |
|---|---|---|
| Low | Below the current average; confirmation may take hours or longer | The transfer is not urgent and network traffic is heavy |
| Normal | Tracks current network conditions; usually confirms within a reasonable window | Almost always — the sensible default for everyday transfers |
| High | Pays above the average to be included in the next blocks | You need certainty quickly, or you are moving funds after a security scare |
| Custom | You set the rate yourself | You understand the network's fee market and want precision — or you are deliberately waiting |
The amount you pay is a function of the rate and the size of the transaction, not its value — which is why consolidating many small amounts can cost more than one large transfer. If you are moving a large balance, a fee that looks high for pocket change is still trivial in percentage terms. If you are moving a small one, do not overpay to save twenty minutes.
02
Stuck transactions, and how to unstick them
On Bitcoin-style networks, a fee that was fine yesterday can look cheap today.
Transactions that pay too little are not lost — they simply wait, and may be dropped from the mempool after a while, in which case the funds return to your spendable balance. Where the network supports it, the app lets you raise the fee on an unconfirmed transaction so it gets picked up. If it has already confirmed, a replace-by-fee attempt is no longer available and you live with the wait.
The practical rule: check the fee level before you confirm rather than after, and if the amount matters to you, spend the extra to get it confirmed.
03
Why fresh receiving addresses matter
The cheapest privacy upgrade in crypto, and it is the default behaviour.
A blockchain is a public ledger. If you reuse one address for every payment you receive, anyone who learns that address once — a client, a friend, an exchange withdrawal record — can follow everything it ever received. Requesting a new address each time breaks that link: the payments land in the same account, but no public observer can casually merge them.
For a large payment, verify the address you are about to publish on the device screen. A malicious browser extension that quietly swaps an address on your clipboard is exactly the attack the device screen exists to defeat.
04
Coin control, in one paragraph
Choosing which coins a transaction spends, and why you would want to.
On UTXO networks such as Bitcoin, your balance is a collection of separately tracked amounts. Normally the app picks which ones to spend, which can inadvertently join a balance you keep private with one that is publicly linked to you. Coin control lets you choose: mark certain coins as spent-only-together or never-spent, so that a transaction does not merge things that should stay apart. It is an advanced tool — worth learning once you hold meaningful amounts, or receive payments from identifiable sources.
05
Tor, your own node, and what each hides
Two switches that change who learns what about you.
Tor routing
Your own node
Discreet mode
Analytics
Privacy inside the app is not privacy on the blockchain
Tor and a personal node decide who can tie your addresses to your identity. They do not make transactions confidential — the ledger stays public. Only careful address handling, and in some networks specialised techniques, change what the chain itself shows.
One more thing worth knowing about the convenience features: buying crypto through an in-app partner usually involves identity checks, so the coins are linked to you at the point of purchase even though they arrive in your own account. Transfers from a regulated exchange carry the same footprint. That is not a reason to avoid them — it is a reason to decide deliberately rather than by accident.
06
Sensible defaults to aim for
A short list you can apply in ten minutes.
Change these
- Turn on discreet mode when working in public.
- Enable Tor if you would rather trade sync speed for privacy.
- Point the app at your own node if you run one.
- Leave analytics off.
Keep these habits
- Use a new receiving address every time.
- Check the device screen for every transaction.
- Pick the normal fee unless you have a reason not to.
- Keep the app updated.
Ready to get the real app?
Trezor Suite is free to use and is published by the hardware wallet's manufacturer. Download it from the official site — never from an ad, a search result lookalike or a file someone sent you.