Every time someone spends bitcoin, money is first sent into the “mempool,” also known as the memory pool, where transactions await confirmation from miners before they can officially join the blockchain, a digital log.
Congestion inside this area results from rising user demand and rising supply, which slows transaction speeds.
The confirmation of your transactions may have been delayed if you’ve ever traded Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency. Transactions can occasionally be completed in a matter of minutes while occasionally going unconfirmed for a period of time beyond 24 hours.
Although it can be unsettling to see a delay in the confirmation of a Bitcoin transaction, this is typical behavior for a blockchain network.
We go over a few of the key causes of your bitcoin transaction’s unconfirmed status in this article.
Why your Bitcoin transaction is not confirmed
Your transactions may be waiting for some time for a number of reasons. They fall into two main categories, respectively.
Dealing with Transactions
On the Bitcoin network, incomplete transactions that are still being processed are known as processing transactions. Transactions are still pending confirmation for a number of reasons at this time.
A high volume of traffic: Due to the backlog of pending transactions, a high volume of transactions slows down processing speed and lengthens wait times. On a blockchain tracker like Blockchain.com, you can see the total number of transactions. The average daily confirmation time for a Bitcoin transaction is between 6 and 15 minutes, according on a brief review of recent confirmation times in May 2022.
Low transaction fee: It’s likely that you only paid a modest price because mining nodes are configured to give larger fee transactions priority. This indicates that your transaction will spend more time in the queue. The low cost might be offset by making additional payments or beginning another transaction. Below, we provide further details.
Older protocols
Despite the fact that this is an exceptional circumstance, it is possible that you are using a bitcoin network or wallet that has an older design (with the traditional 1 MB block size) and no Segwit protocols, which normally enable users to accelerate transactions. The latest protocols are being adopted by a lot of apps, therefore this is typically not a problem. You must make sure that your transaction has a witness attached to it and that the fifth byte (for input counts) displays a value of 0x00 in order to determine whether it is compliant with the Segwit protocol.
Unfinished or Failed Transactions
Transactions aren’t complete in this instance because something went wrong. To solve these problems, you ought to be able to perform simple troubleshooting.
Internet failure: This is straightforward. A poor internet connection indicates that you did not connect to the bitcoin network or broadcast your transaction information. If your internet is up and running, see if a firewall is preventing the Bitcoin application from working.
Inaccurate transaction details: If you submitted the data to the wrong wallet or address, the network might not be able to verify it. Before you start a transaction, thoroughly review all the facts. You might occasionally lose some of your BTC funds.
Transaction rejected. Some miners will reject your transaction if the transaction fee is too low (or not assigned). A transaction fails when there are too many rejections on a congested network.
Problems with the wallet of the recipient: Occasionally, despite numerous nodes confirming your transactions, your transaction still seems to be pending confirmation. This problem typically arises when particular wallets are out of sync with the blockchain network. It can take some time for all the data to be displayed on the network for an inactive receiver or someone using a restricted wallet.
The conclusion
It can be annoying to wait for a bitcoin transaction. Nevertheless, it’s all a part of exchanging cryptocurrencies.
Your annoyance can be reduced by knowing how the Bitcoin network operates and the options you have when responding to a lengthy wait time.
