Sending or receiving bitcoin is simple. But behind this elementary process lies a whole ecosystem.

Its cornerstone is transaction confirmation.

Contents:

Why do you need Bitcoin when there are a whole bunch of banks?

Although many crypto enthusiasts believe that cryptocurrency can completely reshape the global financial system, the principle of its operation is very similar to traditional banking fundamentals.

Let's say a person from Europe needs to send money to his grandmother in South Africa. He goes with them to the bank. The financial institution accepts the money and sends it to its intermediary – the correspondent bank. He, in turn, sends the money directly to the South African bank, where the grandmother can finally collect it.

Each of these banks verifies the identity of the original customer and their money. Because of this, a bank “parcel” can take more than a week to reach the final recipient.

Moreover, it itself can grow depending on the country of location of the sending bank and its working currency.

Bitcoin- the most famous cryptocurrency in the world - allows you to get rid of this long chain of intermediaries, as well as speed up and reduce the cost of the process.

But, just like with a bank transfer, the transaction on the Bitcoin network must be confirmed. Without verification, the recipient will never be able to receive crypto coins.

How and who confirms transactions on the Bitcoin network

Miners are the “worker bees” of the Bitcoin blockchain.

Most of those “uninitiated” in the principles of operation of cryptocurrencies believe that the main purpose of miners is . This is wrong.

The main task of miners is to confirm transactions. They do this by mining blocks. Each block in the Bitcoin network weighs 1MB.

When information about transfers “clogs” this entire space, the block is considered closed and confirmed.

For mining, miners use large computing power. The first miner to close a block receives a reward for his work in the form of bitcoins.

Each transaction on the Bitcoin network must receive 6 confirmations. This means that information on it is still included in 6 subsequent blocks.

The creators of Bitcoin came up with this system in order to avoid double spending of the same cryptocurrency, otherwise anyone could use crypto coins in endless quantities.

As soon as the miners confirm the transaction 6 times, the bitcoins arrive at the recipient’s address and he can dispose of them.

Some services may change the number of confirmations for crediting to the balance.

Magic number

The number 6 was not chosen by chance. The theory says that in this protection system, an attacker must accumulate more than 10% of the power of the entire network in order to double spend Bitcoin.

Crypto fraudsters would have to invest millions of dollars in computing power of this level.

Therefore, the six reduces the risk of such a situation occurring.

On the other hand, they may well receive 6 confirmations in a row and verify the transfer.

The miners themselves can use the bitcoins they received as rewards only after confirming 100 blocks.

Proof of Work

To make the Bitcoin network fair, the creators came up with the concept Proof of Work– proof of the work done.

According to this concept, the more power a miner has, the greater the likelihood that he will receive a reward for verification.

Proof of Work in the Bitcoin network has disadvantages: miners compete with each other and over time, more and more power is required to find a block.

Because of this they become more expensive.

Moreover, the amount of energy consumed is increasing, which harms the entire planet.

Can I become a Bitcoin miner?

Yes. Anyone can become a miner. True, now the “entry point” is too high. There are millions of miners in the world.

Some have huge data centers that cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

To compete with them, you will have to fork out a lot for equipment and electricity.

Therefore, ordinary users mine those coins that are cheaper, but their generation is not so expensive.

How to speed up Bitcoin transaction confirmation

Every crypto investor can speed up Bitcoin transaction confirmation.

First way– increase the translation priority. For this you will have to pay a higher commission to the miners.

Second option– send bitcoin with multi-signature. considers such translations as more reliable, and accordingly, they are more likely to undergo verification. Multisignature also increases the security of the transfer itself.

Third way- to be open". It is considered open when complete information about the identity of the sender and recipient is recorded in the block. The speed of getting into a block increases, but one of the main principles of cryptocurrencies – anonymity – suffers.

There are also many centralized cryptocurrency exchange services.

They developed and implemented their own transaction systems.

They can pass through this ecosystem instantly.

There is a prerequisite– the sender and recipient must be clients of such a service, and transactions must take place between addresses registered on the platform.

The transaction is not confirmed for a long time. Have I lost my bitcoins?

No. On the Bitcoin network, confirmation may take a long time.

For example, the BTC price rose or fell sharply, and investors rushed to trade on exchanges.

Or in the mempool of unconfirmed transfers, there are too many high-priority transactions (with a higher commission), which seem to go “out of turn.”

In this case, the network may be congested and confirmation may take longer.

There is only one option left - wait.

There are also failures in the blockchain, for example, due to a massive attack, and confirmation can be canceled. There is no need to worry, the bitcoins will be returned to the sender’s address and the transaction can be repeated.

02.08

Virtual money is persistently entering the lives of businessmen and investors. The blog site will help them verify the actual payment, exchange and other Bitcoin transactions.

First, let us recall how such operations generally occur. Funds intended to be sent to the recipient (transfers for the required amount previously received in favor of the owner of the personal wallet) are transferred using a special code. But until the bitcoins reach the recipient, the transaction cannot be considered completed.

To carry out an operation, it must be included in the so-called block - a set of transfers created by miners and corresponding to a specific software solution. All Bitcoin transactions can be tracked on the network, as they are open to any interested parties. There are no specific names, because one of the principles of this system is anonymity. However, you can find the address (individual code) of a user, where you can see all received and sent amounts with confirmations.

In practice, this entire process does not go smoothly. Let's deal with one of the existing problems of Bitcoin transactions.

Since there are more and more such operations, many new blocks are constantly required. Their creation, due to the complexity of the process, does not occur as quickly as we would like. As a result, a specific phenomenon arises - Mempool (queue of translations awaiting execution).

Recently, the Bitcoin network has seen repeated cases of freezing of more than 100 thousand transactions simultaneously. Moreover, as a rule, transactions with the lowest commissions end up in the queue.

Please note: the standard operation algorithm assumes that mining one block takes approximately 10 minutes.

Where can I check if a Bitcoin transaction has taken place?

The process of crediting bitcoins does not yet work like clockwork and depends on a number of factors:

• exchange rate fluctuations;
• network stability;
• fee size.

A transaction is considered confirmed if it is included in blocks, the number of which ranges from 1 to 6 (based on the number of bitcoins). Accordingly, depositing small amounts should last approximately 10 minutes, and large ones should take no more than 1 hour.

The obscurity confuses users and prevents them from being confident in carrying out important Bitcoin transactions. Therefore, they must clearly know where this fact can be reliably verified.

To find out the information you are interested in about transactions, go to the official website of the system. By specifying the cryptographic code of the recipient or the transfer number known to you in the search line, you can see the necessary data on the number of blocks in which the declared operations are included.

To check transactions, you can use the service *blockchain.info*

To reduce your wait time, use the following tips:

1. Transfer in large amounts (such Bitcoin transactions have a higher status, so they are processed first).
2. Set the commission size manually (the larger it is, the more preferable the transfer is for the miner).
3. Choose specialized platforms, such as BitPay or Coinbase, that offer instant Bitcoin transactions using internal tools.

If the digital money has not yet arrived to the addressee, then sooner or later it will be done anyway. Remember, until the operation is completed, the owner of the funds is still the sender, who can change the initial transfer parameters (for example, commission) and thereby speed up the process.

To pay for a purchase or service with cryptocurrency. You need to at least roughly know how the process of sending money to the seller works. This will avoid complications and errors and help significantly speed up the process. This is especially important for those who are interested in quickly transferring funds from one wallet to another. In such situations, you should know how to convince your partner to pay and verify the Bitcoin transaction.

In general, the mechanism of cryptocurrency money transfers differs little from the standard movement of traditional money. There are also 2 parties interested in the transfer of finances, and intermediaries, who in ordinary life are banks and large financial institutions.

But serious differences could not be avoided here, since fiat and virtual money have too little in common. To verify this, it is enough to clarify what cybercurrency looks like.

Any crypto-finance is ordinary files containing information about the amount of money, owners and transfers.

With the destruction of these files, existing savings are also lost.

Given the certain vulnerability of the electronic transfer system, the creators of bitcoins took care of a mechanism to protect transactions from fraudsters. This mechanism consists of multiple checks of performed actions. In general terms, the translation process looks like this:

1. the sender logs into his online wallet and enters the recipient’s details;
2. further information about the operation is collected in special blocks that have their own unique number and hash;
3. blocks are sent to miners’ computers for verification;
4. if there are no errors, the information is copied to the miner’s device, and the block itself is sent back;
5. then the blocks are compiled into a single chain, and the recipient accepts the amount sent to him.

Important: at any stage of the transfer, anyone can view the payment status.

How to find a Bitcoin transaction?

To find and track a transaction, you need to know all the information about it, and the hash is especially important. In order not to miss this information, you should carefully fill out the details and be attentive to details.

It should be remembered that each information file consists of three components:

• Input – information about the sender;
• Output – information about the recipient;
• Amount – amount sent.

All this affects the speed of data processing and helps monitor currency movements. That is why you should be careful about all the numbers you enter. If an error occurs, it will be almost impossible to cancel the operation. And, given the anonymity of the virtual financial environment, it is pointless to hope for a refund.

How to track a Bitcoin transaction?

Tracking is important when money is delayed and cannot reach the specified wallet within a reasonable time. But in order for browsing not to be pointless, you need to know what affects the speed of translations. Of great importance is:

1. Recipient software;
2. the size of the commission assigned by the sender;
3. volume of translation;
4. sharp fluctuations in the exchange rate.

Each of these factors can seriously slow down the process. Sometimes the system or sender's computer may freeze. In such situations, the cryptocurrency may not reach the recipient at all. After some time, it will be returned to its rightful owner. Cybermoney cannot simply disappear even in the most severe cases. The only reason that leads to the disappearance of money without a trace is the actions of hackers and scammers who steal savings from careless people.

Additionally, it should be noted that the final payment time can be either minimal – 5-10 minutes or quite long (more than a day).

How to check a bitcoin transaction?

The easiest and most effective way to track the movement of funds is to visit the website blockchain.info. Here information about the operations performed is collected, statistics are kept and there is data on the progress of checks and processing of blocks. To obtain the necessary information, you will need:

• enter the portal;
• enter data known to the examiner into the search field (hash, address, block height and other information);
• Having received information about the block, you should select the required transaction and see how many checks have already been carried out.

Here you can also clarify the payment information, which will allow the recipient to make sure that the money has already been sent and will soon arrive in his wallet.

Transaction fees

It was mentioned above that the size of the commission affects the speed of the transfer. This is due to the fact that the amount charged goes to the miners’ accounts. They are the ones who check the blocks and provide their own equipment for stable operation of the system. At the same time, miners do not have the opportunity to choose which operations and files they want to check and which they prefer to leave for later.

The verification procedure is laid down in the basic operating conditions of the financial system.

Therefore, those who offer more money as a commission always get higher priority. And its size must be determined by the sender himself.

The following are exempt from paying additional fees:

1. whose transfers are less than 0.01 btc;
2. whose information files take up minimal space;
3. whose translations have a huge number of confirmations.

How to speed it up?

Based on the above, in order to speed up the receipt of funds to the specified wallet, you should:

• increase the commission size;
• make only large bitcoin transactions;
• use the help of large exchanges that carry out operations using their own resources;
• use multi-signature, which guarantees the reliability of the payment and increases its priority;
• make an open transfer;
• use accelerator services.

But it should be remembered that the effectiveness of the latter option has not been confirmed, and the positive effect is noted only by users on thematic forums.

It is necessary to say a few words about open transactions: this process goes against the basic principles of virtual finance, since the operation loses its anonymity, and information about the payment becomes available to everyone around.

Canceling an operation

No matter how much cryptocurrency holders would like, it is impossible to cancel the operation. Any Bitcoin transaction will receive a logical conclusion, verification and all attempts to refuse the actions taken will not help. It will no longer be possible to correct a mistake, once it has been made.

But those from whose account more funds were debited than necessary should not worry.

This is due to the peculiarity of translations. To speed up payments, the system uses amounts that are convenient for it, so when you send 2.5 btc, 3 bitcoins will be debited from your wallet. But the extra money will come back later as a kind of change.

Checking btc transfers and payments

Having made sure that the entire amount has been sent, he can verify the partner’s honesty and can calmly wait for the funds to arrive.

True, so that the process does not drag on for a long time, you should worry about a high commission in advance. It will prove to be reliable protection against possible problems and a guarantee of quick transfer of cryptocurrency to the chosen wallet.

Sometimes users can transfer a certain amount of bitcoins to each other for one reason or another, such a transfer is called a transaction, and it has certain differences from the transfer of standard currency.

To prove the transfer of funds or simply track the completion of a transaction, there are special sites on which such transactions are recorded in a block.

This means that any transfer of bitcoins between wallets is public and available not only for viewing by other users, but also the ability to track the origin of a given coin by moving through transaction chains.

The whole point of the transaction is to be able to use bitcoins, not just accumulate them.

You will learn how to speed up Bitcoin transactions on the blockchain in this video:

Verifying or tracking a transaction

Sometimes it happens that the transaction is delayed or the user cannot wait for confirmation to arrive, since most cryptocurrency transfer programs initially wait for confirmation from the network about the transfer, and only then display the transferred funds in the wallet.

To see proof of the transfer of funds or view the process itself, there are various services - Blockchain.info is one of them and is the most popular.

Important: since the formation of a wallet in it takes an extremely short period, it can be used for a single transfer case.

How to use the service

The application of this service is as follows:

• After creating a wallet, on the first page you need to find the “wallet” menu;
• Enter ID and password;
• Select the line “open wallet”;
• Now it is possible to see both the final balance and the process of moving funds.

Transaction confirmation

So, if you do not use a special service for instant transfer of funds with the availability of viewing the transaction itself, then all completed transactions can only be seen the next day or after a certain amount of time, since each stage must be confirmed by miners, who at this time may be busy themselves mining process.

But, if the user pays a little more for the shipment, he will help relieve the load on the system. As a result he gets:

• Increasing priority, since such a transaction is pushed faster by the pool into the first free block, but further processes are no longer under control, and if they take time to complete, then nothing will help;
• Leveling network load.

Important: having information about confirmation quantities and options for speeding up the process, the user can influence the entire process as a whole by creating a special strategy.

What is Bitcoin and how to buy it?

Additional transaction

Users with experience in this area recommend:

• Create addresses with private keys that are not connected to wallets;
• Make transfers to the generated addresses for the change stock - 1 BTC for 10 wallets, 0.5 BTC for another 100, and so on;
• Use the transfer of a private key to the recipient, due to which an instant transfer occurs, since he, in turn, will attach it to his wallet. you will learn what Bitcoin is, what its features are and how to create a wallet yourself.

Thus, the use of such an in-depth option makes it possible to complete a transaction in the following way:

• The network already received information about the created addresses a couple of blocks ago;
• Therefore, a person who attaches a key to such an address receives an instant replenishment of his balance;
• Moreover, all procedures for creating addresses are carried out in advance, through a prematurely formed reserve;
• Thanks to the existing supply of coins, the entire process is accelerated to a few seconds.

Important: you should remember that this option is only permissible for transferring funds to very close people, since there is a possibility of withdrawing all funds using a private key.

Evidence of translation

There are “Blockchain Browsers” sites through which it is possible to see the premature execution of a transfer or the transaction process itself.

Important: through such sites it is possible to find out the reasons for the delay in the translation or its complete absence; they can serve as evidence, since this translation cannot be documented.

By the way, BitPay provides transaction statements from the order pages.

Conclusion

It is impossible to influence the course of technical transactions, however, with experience and the use of all possible options for speeding up the system, it is possible to make transfers in a matter of seconds.

How to speed up Bitcoin transaction confirmation - watch this video:

20
Feb
2018

How to track a Bitcoin transaction and what to do if there is no confirmation?

The larger the Bitcoin network becomes, the greater the load on it. Already, users are complaining that they have to wait too long for operations.

Unfortunately, there will be even longer wait times in the future. All attempts to change this only led to the appearance of forks.

How to track a Bitcoin transaction and what to do if there is no confirmation? In this article, we decided to help everyone who conducts operations on this network and wants to monitor their execution.

It is quite possible to do this, and You can check not only your transfers, but also payments of other users.

How are transactions carried out on the Bitcoin network?

Most newbies don't know how blockchain works and why transactions can be delayed.

Bitcoins and other altcoins differ from regular money, at least in that they do not have a physical format. They can only be transferred in digital format, and this requires wallets and special services.

In the Bitcoin blockchain, transactions are recorded in new blocks, and these are created by miners.

In order for any operation to receive confirmation, data about it must be included in the chain. This only happens when a new block is mined, this happens every 10 minutes. But there are so many transactions that the system simply cannot handle the load.

Miners are those people who provided computing power for the functioning of the blockchain.

For each block they are awarded a reward. Every Bitcoin user should know about this, otherwise it will not be possible to explain why transactions are delayed and how to speed them up.

Who runs Bitcoin operations?

This is a decentralized network, no one can interfere with its work. Inside it, operations are carried out from one user to another; there can be no intermediaries.

No one will freeze funds or cancel an accepted operation. And if confirmation is not received, the coins will simply be sent back. To everyone who makes transfers to BTC need to know:

• the time to complete the translation can be from 30 minutes to several days;
• users decide for themselves what commission to pay for the operation, and the higher it is, the higher the processing speed;
• all transaction data is publicly available;
• Now the network is too loaded, so it is better not to try to carry out transactions for small amounts;
• the commission you pay for transactions is partially transferred to miners, so they are interested in confirming transactions with a large commission.

The transaction is considered completed only when all the information is included in the new block. In addition to the new record, it includes data on all operations performed in the past.

Why isn't it as fast as bank transfers? Because to approve a transaction, a digital signature is needed, and it is established after solving a mathematical problem.

What determines the Bitcoin transaction speed?

The algorithm for sending coins will be the same in any case. The recipient's address and amount are entered and the application is submitted. Miners determine it, and it is added to a new block.

Only after 6 confirmations, it receives the completed status. But how long it will take depends on 4 main factors:

1. Transaction amount

The system is designed in such a way that the larger the transfer amount, the higher its priority.

It's not uncommon for users to experience processing speed issues after they actively send or receive small amounts (for example, through faucets). If you carry out transactions rarely and with large amounts, the speed will be higher.

2. Network congestion

There are many farms and computers connected to the Bitcoin network, but even their power is not enough to quickly process the flow of new transactions.

At some points, the number of unconfirmed transactions reaches a peak and some of them are simply rejected (not confirmed). In this case, transactions with the highest commission are selected.

3. Exchange rate

This factor only indirectly affects the speed of transaction processing. When quotes fall or rise sharply, it causes bursts of activity. People begin to actively sell or buy coins, which leads to system overload.

4. Commission amount

Initially, the blockchain was interesting because transfers in it were not accompanied by commissions.

Now the difficulty of mining cryptocurrencies has increased, and miners do not receive enough rewards. Therefore, you have to give them a commission and the higher it is, the faster it will be confirmed.

The speed of transactions raises many questions about the future of Bitcoin. In fact, it is not necessary to wait for 6 confirmations.

The seller only needs to verify that the transaction is completed at all. After all, even when using a bank card, you can simply cancel the operation after the transfer, but neither in stores, nor in cafes, nor anywhere else, we are asked to sign or wait for some time (signature is taken only in rare cases).

Is it possible to track a Bitcoin transaction?

As already mentioned, the database of all transactions in the blockchain is open. Through it you can view transaction details at any time.

The data is open, but the wallet numbers are not tied to anyone, so there is complete anonymity on the network. Where can I track Bitcoin transactions? Go to, there you will see a search form:

You can enter any information about the transfer into it or even indicate your wallet number to find the desired operation. For example, we entered the transaction hash and got this data:

We were able to track the Bitcoin transaction by code; it shows the size of the information (affects the commission), the time of receipt and inclusion in the block, as well as the number of confirmations.

As you can see, the transfer amount is just over 0.026 BTC, and the commission is set at 0.0018 BTC (almost 1000 rubles). Therefore, it took less than 2 minutes to process.

How to cancel a Bitcoin transaction?

Often, beginners wait several days for their operation to receive confirmation, and then they begin to read articles like this and realize that they set a too small commission. They decide to cancel the transaction and make a new one, but this is impossible.

Each transfer will receive its completion, and if the funds are sent to the wrong place, you can try to somehow contact the owner of another address (if you have contacts) and ask for the coins to be returned.

Bitcoin transaction is stuck, what should I do?

The best option is to just wait, because there are no free methods to speed up translation. Some wallets support additional functions that allow you to increase the commission to an already added transaction:

1. Opt-In Replace-by-fee.

The first is called Opt-In RBF and works through the “Double Spending” function, against which protection is installed in the blockchain. Its essence is that you send a similar transfer, but with a higher commission.

If you try to do this directly, nothing will work, and not all miners support this.

This function is present in Electrum and GreenAddress wallets (maybe in others). When creating a new transaction, you just need to check a special box.

1. Child Pays for Parents.

Literally translated as a child paying for a parent. In this case, the main transfer is supported by an additional transaction. The CPFP function is also not available in all wallets.

If you didn’t know, when transferring BTC, an integer number is debited, and after the “change” operation is completed, it is returned back. So in some wallets, this “change” can be spent before the transfer is made.

If your function is supported, then send the received amount to yourself and indicate an increased commission. In this case, the miner will combine transactions and, due to the high commission, will quickly accept them into a new block.

Don't worry if your Bitcoins are stuck. From a technical point of view, they are still in your wallet and will not disappear anywhere. Coins are debited only after a block entry appears (i.e. BTC appears on the recipient's account).

What commission should I set when transferring Bitcoins?

Those who managed to get burned and waited several days for confirmation no longer charge the minimum commission. But how to choose it correctly so as not to overpay?

When using some wallets, the commission is dynamic and is calculated when filling out the transfer form:

You will not have to track transactions if the normal commission is charged. In this case, it is only 25 cents, and should take about an hour. You can check the current commission through.

The main page shows the fee for priority, expedited and regular transactions:

At the moment, for the fastest Bitcoin transfer you need to pay 65 Satoshi for each byte. In the Blockchain wallet you can specify your commission amount for each byte (as in many other wallets):

Just keep in mind that your transaction may be 500 bytes, and in this situation the commission amount will already be 30,000 Satoshi (at the current exchange rate, about $2.5).

How to speed up a Bitcoin transaction?

The need to track a BitcoinBlockchain transaction only arises if too much time passes before confirmation. No one monitors operations when they are executed instantly.

What else can you do, besides increasing the commission, to get confirmation faster?

• try to transfer large amounts;
• carry out operations during the daytime (from 12:00 to 19:00 Moscow time);
• use multi-signature (available in some services, it allows you to increase the priority of a transaction without a large commission);
• conduct transactions with open data of the sender and recipient;
• use systems where internal transfers are carried out instantly (without participation in the Bitcoin blockchain).

In general, don’t be greedy and pay a commission, because miners should receive a reward for using cryptocurrency. Plus, the fees aren't that high, and if you don't need confirmation in a couple of minutes, it will cost less than a dollar per transaction.

Tracking a Bitcoin transaction by wallet or ID is as easy as shelling pears, and we showed you where and how to do it. Most often, this is required by those whose operations are stuck and are waiting for a long time for confirmation.

Speed ​​up your translations using the methods presented and you won’t have to face such problems.

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