Difference between revisions of "Confirmation"
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Typically, a transaction that is sent to the network with fees that adhere to the acceptance rate of X% of the network's hash rate will have X% chance of being mined in the next block. | Typically, a transaction that is sent to the network with fees that adhere to the acceptance rate of X% of the network's hash rate will have X% chance of being mined in the next block. | ||
| − | For example, if it is known that 20% of nodes will accept transactions at a fee rate | + | For example, if it is known that 20% of nodes will accept transactions at a given fee rate, the user can assume that there is a 20% chance of it being included in the next block, or conversely that it is likely to be mined in 1 of the next 5 blocks, or within a 50 minute timeframe. |
For users whos transactions are less time critical, this is a great way to save money, especially in high volume applications. | For users whos transactions are less time critical, this is a great way to save money, especially in high volume applications. | ||
Revision as of 00:40, 8 February 2020
Bitcoin transaction confirmation is needed to guarantee that a payment is finalized. One of the main advantages of bitcoin is that it solves the problem of double-spending[1], i.e. the risk that a digital currency token may be copied and spent more than once. In spite of having no central authority to verify that its tokens are not being duplicated, bitcoin successfully avoids double-spending through a system of decentralized transaction confirmation, based on the consensus of a network of validators. Bitcoin SV transaction confirmation time cannot be precisely predicted. However, once a transaction has been relayed around the network it has a high probability of being included in the next mined block.
How Bitcoin transaction are confirmed
A transaction is the exchange of information between parties. That information can be a quantity of [[Satoshis}, tokens or data of some other kind. Confirmation occurs when that transaction is included in a block that is added to the Bitcoin Block chain. When a user wishes to have a transaction confirmed, the complete transaction is broadcast from their wallet to miners in the Core network who verify that it is valid. Once validated, miners will decide whether or not to include this transaction in their block template and attempt to mine it. When a miner discovers a block that includes the transaction, it is considered confirmed. Each time a new block is added to the chain, the transaction is said to be confirmed again with the number of confirmations being the number of blocks added to the ledger that build upon the block containing the transaction.
Bitcoin SV Confirmation Time
Typically, a transaction that is sent to the network with fees that adhere to the acceptance rate of X% of the network's hash rate will have X% chance of being mined in the next block.
For example, if it is known that 20% of nodes will accept transactions at a given fee rate, the user can assume that there is a 20% chance of it being included in the next block, or conversely that it is likely to be mined in 1 of the next 5 blocks, or within a 50 minute timeframe. For users whos transactions are less time critical, this is a great way to save money, especially in high volume applications.
Number of Bitcoin SV Confirmations
A regular bitcoin sv client will show the number of confirmations as part of the transaction metadata. In some older implementations of bitcoin the transactions were labelled "unconfirmed" until they had 6 confirmations. There is nothing special about the default, often-cited figure of 6 blocks. It was chosen based on the assumption that an attacker is unlikely to amass more than 10% of the hashrate, and that a negligible risk of less than 0.1% is acceptable. Both these figures are arbitrary, however; 6 blocks are overkill for casual attackers, and at the same time powerless against more dedicated attackers with much more than 10% hashrate (see: Analysis of hashrate-based double-spending).
Users and cryptocurrency exchanges that accept bitcoins as payment set their threshold in the number of required blocks until the payment is confirmed.
To find out how many checks are required to process the transaction and how long to wait for the receipt of funds, it is necessary to understand the features of cryptocurrency transfers. This process consists of several stages:
- addressee sends money;
- information about transactions is made in special blocks, each of which has a room and a hash (special data);
- the blocks are sent for scanning to different computers;
- if everything is done correctly, the received information replenishes various databases;
- checked blocks complete the chain;
- the money goes to the recipient.
Note that
- Unconfirmed transactions do not expire.
- Freshly-mined coins cannot be spent for 100 blocks.
- It is advisable to wait some additional time for a better chance that the transaction will be propagated by all nodes.
See Also
References
[1] Nakamoto, Satoshi. "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System."