Key Takeaways
- In most cases, Bitcoin transactions need 1 to 1.5 hours to complete.
- Bitcoin transactions will usually be confirmed with one confirmation within 10 minutes.
- If several hours have passed without your Bitcoin transaction being confirmed, just wait.
How Long Do BTC Transactions Take?
- How Long Do BTC Transactions Take?
- How Long Does It Take to Transfer Bitcoin in Between Wallets?
- Recent Developments on Scaling
- Why Was 10 Minutes Picked as the Block Time?
- Why Is My Bitcoin Transaction Taking So Long?
- Conclusion
Bitcoin transactions will usually get 1 confirmation within 10 minutes.
If you sent too low of a fee, it could be longer than 10 minutes.
- If several hours have passed without your Bitcoin transaction being confirmed, just wait.
- If more than 72 hours have gone by without confirmation, resend your transaction.
In general, Bitcoin transactions will be confirmed between 10 minutes and over a day later.
The two biggest influences on the confirmation time are the amount of transaction fees and the activity on the network.
On average, a confirmation will take about an 10 minutes, however some merchants require many confirmations before they consider the money sent.
Average confirmation time (Jan 2018 - April 2020).
How Long Does It Take to Transfer Bitcoin in Between Wallets?
The amount of time it takes to transfer between wallets will vary with each transaction.
Each Bitcoin transaction needs to be network-approved before completion.
The standard set by the Bitcoin community is six transfer confirmations before it is complete. Each confirmation can be expected to take about 10 minutes, thus getting an average of one transaction per hour.
For most transactions, one confirmation is enough to know that the transaction went through.
Transactions are prioritized by miners according to the fee they receive when confirming them.
If you pay a higher fee, you are more likely to secure a miner to process it, therefore decreasing the processing time.
Recent Developments on Scaling
The Bitcoin community is a bit divided on how best to handle the issues with scaling. Some, mainly Bitcoin Cash fans, believe a larger block size is the solution. This would allow for more transactions per block.
There is also some debate about such improvements as Lightning Network and Segregated Witness (SegWit), specifically their potential to increase network speed without increasing block sizes.
Two major upgrades to Bitcoin tx throughput.
Why Was 10 Minutes Picked as the Block Time?
Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin, chose 10 minutes as the block time with efficiency in mind.
Satoshi felt 10 minutes was a good balance between speed, but also giving time for the network to see the new block.
If blocks were to be faster than 10 minutes, more miners would waste their verification work.
Why Is My Bitcoin Transaction Taking So Long?
Bitcoin is sometimes experiencing spikes in network traffic because of the higher demand for transactions.
If your transaction is stuck, the best thing to do is wait.
If you need the transaction sent urgently and want to speed things up, try RBF.
Conclusion
On average, a Bitcoin transaction will take around an hour to complete. However, this figure can easily increase to over a day, depending on the network congestion.
You can reduce the time it takes for your transaction by paying a higher miner fee or choosing to conduct your transactions when the network is experiencing less congestion.
As a bonus, times with less congestion tend to result in lower transaction fees.
FAQs
On average, a Bitcoin transaction is typically confirmed within 10-30 minutes. However, during times of high network activity, it can take longer – sometimes even hours. Miners prioritize transactions with higher fees, so including a sufficient transaction fee can expedite confirmation.
How long should a Bitcoin transaction take? ›
On average, it takes about 11 minutes for a single Bitcoin confirmation. Therefore, a successful transfer can take between 30 and 60 minutes to be confirmed on the blockchain network. Factors such as network congestion and transaction fees can also impact the speed of a Bitcoin transaction.
Why are Bitcoin transactions taking so long? ›
Network Congestion
The level of activity on the Bitcoin network significantly impacts transaction times. During periods of high congestion, when many users send transactions, the Bitcoin mempool — where transactions wait before being confirmed — can become crowded.
How long does it take to solve a Bitcoin? ›
How Long Does It Take to Mine 1 Bitcoin? The reward for mining is 3.125 bitcoins. It takes the network about 10 minutes to mine one block, so it takes about 10 minutes to mine 3.125 bitcoins.
Why do Bitcoin withdrawals take so long? ›
Bitcoin withdrawal delays typically occur due to network congestion, platform issues, or a transaction being allocated low fees. Most Bitcoin withdrawals are confirmed within 30 minutes to 2-4 hours, so if yours takes longer, it could be delayed.
Can a Bitcoin transaction take 24 hours? ›
Bitcoin's transaction times can vary greatly, ranging anywhere from ten minutes to one day. However, it will usually take between thirty minutes and two hours to complete the process. It is worth keeping in mind that the average transaction time tends to be around one hour.
How can I speed up my BTC transaction? ›
How do I accelerate a stuck Bitcoin transaction? If you set your custom fee too low or there is a sudden spike in network fees, your transaction might get stuck pending. If this happens, you can accelerate the transaction with either replace-by-fee (RBF) or a child-pays-for-parent (CPFP) transaction.
How to check BTC transaction status? ›
Here's how to check the Bitcoin transaction status:
Go to https://live.blockcypher.com/ or https://www.blockchain.com/explorer and type or paste the transaction ID into the search field. You can see how many confirmations your transaction has.
How long does it take to transfer BTC from one wallet to another? ›
How Long Does It Take To Transfer Bitcoin Between Wallets? On average, it can take 60 minutes to send Bitcoin from one wallet address to another. Currently, the Bitcoin network can process about five transactions per second (TPS), with transactions logged in the blockchain about every 10 minutes.
What to do if a Bitcoin transaction is not confirmed? ›
What Can You Do?
- Check if your Bitcoin wallet supports the Replace By Fee feature. ...
- Ask the support team of your wallet provider if there is any issue from their side.
- Ask your wallet provider if they can speed up your transaction.
- Use Bitcoin transaction accelerators.
Satoshi specifically chose ten minutes as a tradeoff between the first confirmation time and the amount of work wasted due to chain splits. After a block is mined, it takes time for other miners to find out about it, and until then, they are competing against the new block instead of adding to it.
Is Bitcoin hard to cash out? ›
One of the easiest ways to cash out your cryptocurrency or Bitcoin is to use a centralized exchange such as Coinbase. Coinbase has an easy-to-use “buy/sell” button and you can choose which cryptocurrency you want to sell and the amount.
How long before Bitcoin goes to zero? ›
If bitcoin was still the Cryptocurrency in 2140 then it would get mined but not because people want the bitcoin reward but because they are mining for the fees. Billions of transactions a day even at extremely low fees makes mining viable forever. The last Bitcoin is expected to be mined in the year 2140.
Why is my bitcoin transaction taking so long? ›
Why do some bitcoin transaction confirmations take so long? Each block can only contain a certain number of transactions, and that number is determined largely by the space available in each block, or the 'block size,' which is 1MB.
How long can a Bitcoin transaction be stuck? ›
Now that there's huge congestion in the Bitcoin blockchain network some transactions could remain unconfirmed for 2 weeks depending on the transaction fee, and the mempool status. A Bitcoin transaction can remain unconfirmed forever if your miner fee bid is too low.
What is the longest Bitcoin transaction time? ›
The record for the longest time a bitcoin transaction has remained unconfirmed is around 14 days. However, it's important to note that this is an extreme case, and most bitcoin transactions get confirmed withing minutes or hours.
How long does a Bitcoin trading transaction take? ›
Understanding Bitcoin transaction time is crucial for any trader. While Bitcoin's transaction speed can vary, it generally takes around 10-60 minutes to get completed. However, factors like network congestion, transaction fees, and many others can influence it.
How long does it take for Bitcoin to transfer to a bank account? ›
How long does it take for funds to get transferred out of the cash app and into your bank account after selling Bitcoin on Coinbase or the Cash App? It generally takes 1-3 business days for the funds to transfer out of Coinbase or the Cash App and into your bank account after selling Bitcoin.
How long should I wait before selling my Bitcoin? ›
If you've owned your Bitcoin for more than 12 months, you'll pay the lower long-term capital gain tax rate. Some investors choose to hold on to their BTC for a year or longer to take advantage of lower tax rates.
How can I track my Bitcoin transaction? ›
It is possible to check Bitcoin balance, gather info about blocks as well as the transactions encompassed in them by using a block explorer. One example of a bitcoin transaction tracker is Btcscan's block explorer. This explorer can be utilized to browse data pertaining to any block on the Bitcoin blockchain.
