All operations to transfer digital currency between bitcoin wallets go through a confirmation stage. This is necessary in order to prevent the repeated spending of the same bitcoins.
After filling out an application for the transfer of bitcoins, it enters the network, where it awaits execution and entry into the block.
Transaction confirmation
Is the process of adding a given cryptocurrency movement to the found block. The processing speed depends on the network load, Internet speed, the technical condition of the portal where your wallet is registered and the transaction commission.
Bitcoin transfer confirmation time takes from 30 minutes to several hours, and even days if the network is too congested. With the growing popularity of cryptocurrency, the number of transactions in the network is constantly increasing.
There are delays and transactions with bitcoin can be in the status of “unconfirmed” for a long time. Unconfirmed applications are returned to the initiator of the transaction, but this creates certain inconveniences and worries.
How Bitcoin transactions are confirmed
Blockchain (block chain) is a database that stores information about all bitcoin transactions. Information is presented in the form of blocks combined into chains. After confirming the operation, a new block is formed, the information is updated, and it will not be possible to change the record.
Confirmation of monetary transactions with bitcoin depends on the work of the miners. The transfer of digital cash must be confirmed in the form of 6 information records.
In addition, the miner’s technique is busy mining Bitcoin. And since the number of financial transactions with cryptocurrency is growing every day, unconfirmed user applications form a queue of transactions.
Applications with higher fees are processed first. The rest enter the so-called “commission market” and wait there until the miner’s technique finds a new block.
Confirmation of a transaction is its inclusion in the found block. 1 block = 1 confirmation. When the system finds six consecutive entries, then the money transfer is recognized as fully confirmed. This verification algorithm ensures maximum security of money transfers.
What to do with unconfirmed Bitcoin transactions
Unconfirmed transactions are returned and bitcoins remain in the wallet of the user who initiated the application. As a rule, such situations rarely happen, but still happen. An overloaded network complicates the block generation process.
A large number of unconfirmed requests creates competition for a place in the block. Therefore, the size of the transaction fee significantly affects the processing speed.
Sometimes, a fixed commission is not enough for a transaction to be included in the next record. Therefore, if you do not want to wait a long time for the status of an unconfirmed order to change, increase the commission amount.
Selective Fee Swap is an option that allows you to resubmit an unconfirmed transaction with an increased fee. If you submit a new claim without using this option, the network will interpret actions such as a double spend attempt and the operation will be rejected.
The Opt-In Replace-by-Fee (Opt-In RBF) option tells the miner that this is a repeat transaction with a higher fee. Most Bitcoin nodes transfer a new order to replace the old one. The application, as it were, makes a jump in the queue.
Currently, only two types of e-wallets support the Opt-In Replace-by-Fee option:
- electrum;
- green address.
Owners of other bitcoin wallets will have to be patient or indicate a large commission for monetary transactions in advance.
You need to clearly understand that bitcoins cannot disappear or get lost in the network. Unconfirmed transactions simply temporarily make cryptocoins inaccessible. Although, some wallets allow you to use unconfirmed bitcoins.
How to cancel a transaction?
Cancellation of a signed transaction is impossible, this is one of the distinguishing features of the entire system. Not so long ago, experts thought about allowing a transaction not yet accepted into the block chain to be rolled back, but this never happened.
However, if the transaction is stuck, then you can cancel it. You need to follow the following steps:
First, you need to make sure that the operation actually hung. To do this, open the Block Explorer program and check the information about this operation. If the money is still on the account, then not everything is lost, it is quite possible to cancel the operation. It is also real if the window “Unconfirmed transaction!”
In a bitcoin wallet, click on the “Help” window, then go to the “Deposit Menu”, then “Console”.
You need to access the wallet using the passphase command.
After that, we get the secret key from the address. To do this, you must specify in the address field the one that was used to send crypto coins.
After the keys are exported, delete the wallet by moving it to a safe place or renaming it.
We start the client again, import the received code. This may take several minutes.
At the end of the cancellation of the transaction and the launch of a new wallet, an account with the real state of affairs should appear. All pending and unconfirmed operations will be cancelled.