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Multisig Setup

Checklist

How to send bitcoin from a 2-of-3 multisig

Last reviewed: October 2026

TL;DR

Build the payment in Sparrow, pick a fee, then sign with any two of your three devices. On each device screen, check the address, the amount and the fee before you confirm. Broadcast, and wait for the first confirmation. A device in another place? Sign with the two you have, or sign one now and finish later.

The test transaction in step 9 proved your wallet can spend. A real payment works the same way, but now the amount matters, the address belongs to someone else and you may not have all three devices at hand. This is how I do it.

What you need

  • Your signing computer with Sparrow and the wallet open.
  • Two of your three devices, with their PINs, and the passphrase if you use one.
  • The destination address, from a source you trust.

Get the address right

Your devices can prove an address is yours. They can’t prove an address belongs to the person you’re paying. That part is up to you.

  • Get the address into the signing computer by retyping it or by scanning a QR code. Don’t use clipboard sync, email or a chat to yourself.
  • For a large payment to a person, confirm the address with them over a second channel, such as a phone call, before you send.
  • Paying yourself, for example to an exchange or a new wallet? Use an address you checked on that wallet’s own screen.
  • Not sure? Send a small amount first and let the recipient confirm it arrived.

Steps

  1. Open the Send tab. Enter the address, a label (who and why, for your own records) and the amount.
  2. Choose a fee with the slider. For a payment that can wait an hour or two, Medium Priority is almost always enough. Multisig spends are a little larger than normal ones, so the fee in sats is a little higher: how much more.
  3. Look at the diagram Sparrow draws: your coins on the left, the payment, your change and the fee on the right. Change is the rest of a coin coming back to a new address in your own wallet.
  4. Click Create Transaction, then Finalize Transaction for Signing. Sparrow now holds an unsigned PSBT.
  5. Connect the first device, unlock it and click Sign. Check the screen (see below) and confirm. Sparrow shows 1/2.
  6. Do the same with a second, different device. Sparrow shows 2/2.
  7. Click Broadcast Transaction. Sparrow shows the transaction as unconfirmed until it’s in a block, about ten minutes on average.

What to check on the device screen

What you confirm on the device is what gets signed. Read it there, not on the computer.

  • The destination address, every character. It’s the one you meant to pay, not just one that starts and ends the same.
  • The amount, including where the decimal point is.
  • The fee. A fee that’s a big share of the amount is a reason to stop and look again.
  • No extra outputs. Your devices recognize change that goes back to your own multisig, so normally you only see the payment. An output you didn’t ask for, to an address you don’t know, means reject.

The BitBox02 and the Ledger know the multisig you registered in step 8. Whichever two devices you pick, at least one of them is one of those.

Wrong amount or address on the screen? Reject

Don’t confirm “to see what happens”. Reject on the device, check your entry in Sparrow, and if it still differs, assume the computer is compromised and read signing laptop broken or infected.

Fee too low after you sent?

Nothing is lost. The transaction waits until a miner picks it up. If it can’t wait, raise the fee in Sparrow and sign again with two devices: stuck transaction and RBF.

When one device is somewhere else

Any two of the three can sign. It doesn’t matter which two, so the usual answer is simple: use the two you have.

If only one device is at hand, you can still start:

  1. Create and finalize the transaction, then sign with the device you have. Sparrow shows 1/2.
  2. Choose File → Save PSBT and save it on the signing computer. It holds no private keys, but it does show amounts and addresses, so keep it to yourself.
  3. When the second device is back, open the file with File → Open Transaction, sign with the second device and broadcast.

A half-signed transaction can’t be broadcast and doesn’t reserve the coins. If you spend the same coins another way before finishing, the saved one simply becomes invalid.

Don’t fetch a seed backup from its box to sign a normal payment. The seeds are for replacing a device that’s lost or broken, as in lost or broken hardware wallet. Taking them out for convenience is how they end up seen.

Common mistakes

  • Copying the address through the clipboard from another computer.
  • Checking only the first and last few characters of the address.
  • Signing twice with the same device and wondering why Sparrow still shows 1/2.
  • Paying High Priority for a payment that could wait.
  • Forgetting to unlock the passphrase wallet on a device, so it can’t find anything to sign.

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