Can A Bitcoin Transaction Take 24 Hours? Reasons for the late Bitcoin Transactions
Seeing your transaction stuck in between without any confirmation or notification can give anxiety to anyone. And this is one most common issues seen in Bitcoin transactions. Bitcoin transactions are quite complicated and time-consuming as, unlike other financial institutions, they are decentralized.
You would have noticed bitcoin transactions taking minutes or even hours for confirmation. But if you’re facing unconfirmed transactions of more than 24 hours no need to worry, this is an expected issue in bitcoin.
If your question is Can A Bitcoin Transaction Take 24 Hours? then Overall its yes, bitcoin transactions can take upto 24 hours or even more sometimes for confirmation. But why? In this blog, we will discuss why bitcoin takes more time for transactions and how to speed it up.
How Does A Bitcoin Transaction Take Place?
Before I state why your bitcoin transaction is unconfirmed. Let me briefly explain how bitcoin transactions take place. Once you are clear with the procedure you can easily understand the reasons too.
If you are familiar with bitcoin trading you would already know that Bitcoin is a decentralized network. Hence, whenever you make any transaction on the Bitcoin network the transaction data is broadcasted to all computers or Nodes connected to the network for Authorization.
But what makes it time-consuming is Mempool. When our transaction data is sent to nodes, the nodes can’t authorize the data and add it to Blockchain by themselves. Instead, once they receive the data they check it and put the transaction in Mempool.
Mempool is a virtual cloud that stores all unconfirmed transactions temporarily in it sent by the nodes. And these transactions proceed and get confirmed until the miner authorizes them by solving mathematical algorithms for the benefit of fees. After the authorization, the miner records the transaction in a “block” of the blockchain to confirm the transaction.
Why Does A Bitcoin Transaction Take So Much Time For Confirmation?
Bitcoin is yet a new and immature transaction system. Hence, there can be several reasons behind unconfirmed transactions. Let’s discuss the major reasons.
- Due to Transaction process:- As bitcoin is a decentralized network it has a long process to complete the transaction. Therefore the typical reasons for unconfirmed transactions can be:-
- Traffic or too many transactions:- There has been a rapid growth in the use of Bitcoin transactions And large transactions at the same time, putting the confirmation in the queue and taking a long time for confirmation. As per the survey, the lowest time Bitcoin transaction takes is 15 to 16 minutes.
- Transaction fees:- Transaction fees play a very vital role in confirmation. The miners are programmed in such a way that they prioritize the transactions with higher transaction fees. Hence, if you have given less or lower transaction fees you might need to wait longer for confirmation.
- Older protocols:- This is one of the rare cases, but let us explain it briefly in case you may need it. The Bitcoin network keeps developing and improving. Therefore make sure your wallet is of an updated architecture with Segwit protocols.
The Segwit protocol helps to improve the speed of transactions. And to check your compatibility with the Segwit protocol, you need to attach a witness to it and the fifth byte should show a value of 0×00.
- Incomplete Transaction:- The second major reason behind unconfirmed transactions can be technical errors while processing the transaction.
- Slow internet:- whether it’s traditional banking or bitcoin transactions, slow or bad internet can be a straightforward reason for not completing your transaction. Hence, make sure the internet connection is strong and even
- Incorrect details:- Before initiating any Bitcoin transaction make sure you have given the right information like address, wallet id, etc. The network or nodes may be unable to confirm the transaction due to wrong information. Furthermore, you may also lose your BTC due to this.
- Rejected transaction:- As mentioned before transaction fee plays a very vital role in the confirmation of transactions. And when miners reject your transaction too many times due to low transaction fees or not assigned fees. Your transaction may end up failing.
- Unsynchronized wallet:- it isn’t important that every time there’s a mistake on your end. There are multiple cases in which users noticed that multiple nodes confirmed transactions but their transaction still shows unconfirmed.
We can’t tell the exact issue but usually, it happens when the receiver’s wallet is unsynchronized with the blockchain network. Besides this, there might be chances that the receiver’s wallet is inactive or restricted.
How to speed up your BitcoinTransaction?
Bitcoin transactions may take up to 48 hours to show confirmation and there is no way to cancel a transaction. So, either you can wait until your transaction confirms or you can try these two methods if you match the conditions.
- Replace-by-Fee:-
If the typical reason behind your unconfirmed transaction is low fees, you can try RBF or Replace-By-Fee method to fasten your transaction. RBF is one of the most liked node policies. Through this policy, the bitcoin user can replace the transaction that they earlier spent with at least one of the same inputs and with a higher transaction fee.
Different Node software uses different RBF rules. However, the most widely used RBF is BIP125, which allows the transaction creator to signal that they are allowed to place the transaction with a higher paying fee. As mentioned before, the miners are programmed in such a way that they pick transactions with higher fees first for confirmation. Hence, RBF can save you time and allow you to take advantage of this.
- Transaction accelerator
You can also use a transaction accelerator to speed up your bitcoin transactions. There are various platforms available online that allow you to speed up your transaction.
Whenever any transaction is made in your wallet regardless of receiving or sending. it is broadcasted onto the blockchain through these accelerators.
These accelerators give signals to the miners that the transaction is ready for further processing. And miners pick the transaction and confirm it as soon as possible.
Bitcoin accelerators rebroadcast transactions across numerous digital nodes worldwide to complete your confirmation. Some accelerators also have additional shortcuts and services to cut time.
Besides these, you can also use other methods like double spending and Child-Pays-For-Parent. Bitcoin transactions are quite complicated and time-consuming. I would suggest you either wait or try RBF for faster transactions.
Bottom line of Can A Bitcoin Transaction Take 24 Hours?
The speed of Bitcoin transactions has always been a topic of frustration. One has to continually check their handset or device for confirmation and a bit of relief.
16 to 20 minutes of unconfirmed transactions is simple and habitual to the users, but when this limit crosses 24 hours or even more. It becomes a matter of stress.
Today in this blog we covered all major reasons to answer the question Can A Bitcoin Transaction Take 24 Hours? and how bitcoin transactions take place. If you are clear with the process, you won’t take much to find out and sort out the issue behind the unconfirmed transaction.
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