When you send your money from your bank account to America, it can sometimes take days before it arrives. On top of that, you pay cross-eyed transaction costs. Then you better use bitcoin!
But how long does a bitcoin transaction on the network actually take? And how long does a bitcoin transaction take when you order bitcoin from BTC Direct?
The simple answer is: directly
The moment you send bitcoin, your transaction is immediately sent to the bitcoin network. At that moment, the entire network will know about your transaction. But your transaction still needs to be checked. This is done by users on the network that we call nodes and miners.
Has your transaction been checked and approved? Then it is added to the blockchain. Your transaction then ends up in a block in the blockchain together with other transactions. At that moment your transaction is finally processed in the blockchain.
On average, a block is added to the blockchain every ten minutes. When your transaction can be found in a block, it has one confirmation. A confirmation means that your transaction is confirmed on the blockchain. Your transaction is in the very latest block of the blockchain.
More time, more security
The longer your transaction on the blockchain, the safer your transaction. In the bitcoin world, it is generally assumed that a transaction is after six confirmations safe. With six confirmations, the block where your transaction is processed is no longer the last or newest block. Five new blocks have now been added to the blockchain.
Keeping in mind that on average every ten minutes a block is added, that is after about one hour.
After every added transaction block, it becomes more and more difficult to hack the blockchain. How is that? Each transaction block contains a bit of information from the previous block. The more blocks there are, the more difficult it becomes to 'go back' in the blockchain.
When will I see my transaction back in my wallet?
Sometimes you do not see your bitcoins immediately after purchase in your wallet. There can be various causes for this. Below we have a few reasons. But first, and perhaps superfluously, check your receiving address.
This is your first transaction with BTC Direct
Then we first have to manually check whether the name on your bank account matches the name of your account with BTC Direct. But do not worry: our support team works faster than the Lightning Network!
Your transaction does not yet have enough confirmations
Some wallets have their own policy with regard to the visibility of your transaction. For example, some wallets only show a transaction after six confirmations. You can often change this in the settings of your wallet.
Your wallet is not (yet) synchronized with the network
Does your wallet not show the transaction? Then it may be that your wallet has not yet updated the entire blockchain. This synchronization is automatic for most wallets. This also happens with an online wallet such as BTC.com.
Something else is wrong
Did you buy bitcoins from BTC Direct, but have you not received your bitcoins after some time? Then something else may be going on. We will gladly help you in that case!
How do I check the status of my transaction myself?
The nice thing about the bitcoin blockchain is that all data is public. This means that you can search all transactions on the internet. You can do that with the help of a block explorer. This is a website that provides insight into the blockchain's data.
Blocktrail is such a block explorer where you can look up transactions. How it works? Simply enter your bitcoin receiving address in the search bar. Then click on the Transactions tab. You will then immediately see an overview of all transactions from and to that receiving address.
Are you clicking on a specific transaction? Then you will see an extensive transaction overview. There you can see all kinds of data about your transaction. Important is the heading 'Confirmations'. Here you can see if your transaction is included in the blockchain. And if so, how many confirmations the transaction has. In other words: how many transaction blocks came after your transaction?
It is also possible that there is 'unconfirmed' or 'not confirmed' with confirmations. Then it means that your transaction has not yet been added to the blockchain. But do not worry. If your transaction can be found on a block explorer, sooner or later it will be included in the blockchain.
Have you bough bitcoins from BTC Direct and do you still not find the transaction in a block explorer? First check whether you have fully completed the purchase process on our website:
1. Go to My account.
2. View your transaction history.
3. Is there 'Verify' in blue? Then your transaction has not yet been completed.
4. Compare your receiving address with that of your wallet and click on verify. We will send your bitcoins to your wallet as soon as possible.
Your bitcoins will then be sent to your receiving address as quickly as possible.
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