Why is my Crypto Transaction Unconfirmed or Pending?

Incoming transactions show up in your account almost instantly (within a few seconds) but will show as 'Pending' until there have been enough network confirmations. The number of confirmations needed is based on the digital currency.

Every bitcoin transaction that's sent flows into what's called the mempool (short for memory pool) before it can be confirmed by miners. When there's a dramatic spike in transaction activity, the mempool can become congested because so many transactions are waiting to be included in the next block.

Bitcoin users across the network may notice their transactions sit as unconfirmed or pending for a longer period of time, and we understand this can cause users to be concerned about the status of their funds.

How to check Bitcoin transaction time?

Blockchain.com and Statista are two excellent resources for estimating the average time it will take to complete a BTC transaction or transfer.

You can also get advice on the transaction fees you should include, which are usually expressed in satoshis, as discussed earlier. You run the risk of offending Bitcoin miners if you submit a Bitcoin transaction with reduced fees, and your payment may land up in a long list of unconfirmed transactions. However, you shouldn't be too concerned because it will be processed if the Bitcoin network experiences a large lull and miners have nothing else to do.

Causes of unconfirmed transactions

All bitcoin transactions require a miner fee to be confirmed by the bitcoin network. When sending bitcoin you will be prompted to add a miner fee to make sure the transaction gets confirmed. If an insufficient fee is included, your transaction may never confirm.

Under normal conditions, this should not occur with transactions generated by Coinbase (our backend systems are designed to prevent this), but in general, if two transactions try to spend the same coins, one of them will never be confirmed by the network.

If you are trying to spend coins that appear as pending in your account, your transaction will not be generated until these coins confirm.

Sometimes there is a high volume of digital currency being sent globally, and there are more transactions than there is space available in each new block to include the transaction.

How do I fix or recover unconfirmed Bitcoin transactions?

A Bitcoin transaction cannot be reversed once it has been confirmed. But, can you cancel unconfirmed Bitcoin transactions? Yes, unconfirmed BTC transactions can be canceled if the blockchain does not approve a Bitcoin transaction within 24 hours. It is considered unconfirmed until at least three miners do not confirm every transaction via the mining process. If you don’t get a confirmation within this time, you can cancel your transaction.

You can broadcast a Bitcoin transaction to the entire network a second time using the RBF Protocol, but for a higher price. As a result, miners can choose the transaction more quickly, canceling the previous transaction and starting a new one.

Your Bitcoin wallet, on the other hand, might not support the RBF Protocol. As a result, check first to see if this is something your wallet will allow you to do. When sending Bitcoin, you can choose this option to ensure that you can utilize it if necessary.

If your wallet doesn't support the RBF Protocol, use the double-spend option instead; that is, create a new transaction with a similar amount. This implies you'll have to send your Bitcoin transaction a second time, this time with a greater fee. Miners will, in most situations, accept the new transaction and return the old one.