The world has definitely changed a lot in the past couple of years. Technology is rapidly developing every single day and it directly influences our lives positively and negatively at the same time. We are not going to focus on the negative side of technology here because we would rather talk about the inventions that have made our lives more comfortable. One of those inventions is – cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin, as the most popular digital currency in the world, has grabbed the attention of millions of people. Even beginners have heard about it and they want to find out how exactly this virtual currency works. Despite that, it also convinced them to check out how the global crypto market functions and what exactly they need to do to become successful traders one day. Well, the path to success is simple to describe. All you have to do is to improve your knowledge and use all the tools that can help you make better results. The good news is that many trading software solutions will help you track the price changes and send you notifications whenever you need to take action. If that seems like a good option for you, you can visit this site and check out how those programs look. On the other hand, despite the assistance of technology, you should also read as much as you can and improve your theoretical knowledge about Bitcoin. One of the facts that you would probably want to know is how long does Bitcoin takes to send. So, let’s find out together!
Table of Contents
Bitcoin transaction are fast
Let’s imagine that you want to send traditional money to a relative, friend, or partner. If you do that during the weekend, you will have to wait until Monday so the person that receives the money can withdraw it. On the other hand, you will not manage to send BTC immediately during holidays or the night as well when all the banks are closed.
Things are simple when we talk about Bitcoin. The entire process can last for a couple of seconds, but there are also moments when you will need to wait for an hour or an hour and a half to complete the transaction. However, when you look closer, the transaction usually lasts between 10 and 20 minutes. In every possible scenario, the Bitcoins you send will be in the wallet of the other party quickly. However, it would probably be better to explain what exactly happens when you send Bitcoin. On the other hand, we would like to suggest some alternatives that can speed up the entire process. Let’s get started!
The process of sending Bitcoin
To start, you will need to use a bitcoin wallet that will allow you to send Bitcoin to another person. The software you are using sends a clear message to people that mine this digital currency. They will add your transaction to the list of unconfirmed ones, and the name of that list is “mempool”. When miners take transactions, they start to add them to a block. Each block can hold around 3000 transactions. That is the reason why miners decide on those transactions that will bring them the most money. More precisely, they decide on those that come with the highest transaction fees. In most cases, they complete one block for around 10 minutes. However, if you have sent Bitcoin with higher transaction fees, there is a big chance you will become a priority of miners. That is the reason why they can confirm it a lot quicker. However, if the transaction fees are a bit lower, you may need to wait a bit more. Despite that, the time of each transaction also depends on the effectiveness of all the miners, but the good thing is that they often complete each block for less than an hour and a half. That is probably a good option for most people.
Now we move to confirmation of transaction
Okay, as you have probably heard, changing the Bitcoin transaction history is impossible. But, there is one small exception that you need to be aware of. In some cases, two different miners may start to mine two different blocks at the same time. Because of that, the Bitcoin network gets completely two different transaction histories known as a chain split. So, what happens in this case? The solution is actually quite simple to understand. A new block that appears becomes the part of one of the two chains before the second one. In those confusing cases, everyone agrees that only the longer chain is the valid one while the other one does not become confirmed. When your transaction becomes a part of a block, it becomes “confirmed with one confirmation”. Whenever a new block becomes part of a chain, your transaction gets another confirmation. A single confirmation is not going to be a big problem for people that are sending small amounts of BTCs. However, if you plan to make a bigger transaction, the best thing would be to wait for the six confirmations. More precisely, that would mean you should wait for around an hour before you can finally accept the transaction is completed. Keep in mind that some people do not have the problem to wait for a day or two even because they want to ensure the transactions are final 100%.
Can i send Bitcoin quicker?
As mentioned, higher transaction fees will speed up the transaction because you will be a priority of miners. Despite that, is to use the so-called lighting network. It is a type of separated payment network that is built on top of Bitcoin. Of course, the rules that these networks have different from than ones the regular networks have, and we recommend you research them before you decide on this move.
Final Thought
You have just learned something new that will move you a step closer to your crypto success. As you see, nothing is confusing about Bitcoin transactions. If you want to simplify other things you should know about this world, we recommend you click here and check out free trading training and get more information about the online trading world. You will definitely gather more information that will boost your knowledge and skills.
