How Long Does a Bitcoin Transaction Take?

If you wonder how long does a Bitcoin transaction take, wonder no more. In this user-friendly guide, you’ll find out the average Bitcoin transaction time and how long it takes to confirm a BTC transaction. In addition to that, we’ll show you how to send BTC.

With that in mind, here’s all you need to know about BTC transactions.

How Long Does It Take for a Bitcoin Transfer to Complete?

How long does a Bitcoin transaction take? It usually takes between 30 minutes and two hours, based on how many confirmations are needed. The typical transaction time is about one hour. When you send BTC, your transaction gets processed and approved by network users, including miners and nodes. After that, it gets added to the blockchain.

Since BTC runs on a public blockchain, you’ll be able to check the status of your transaction. You can also use a Bitcoin transaction time estimator. This tool will analyze various factors to estimate the expected transaction time. The record for the longest Bitcoin transaction time is about 14 days.

Several solutions, such as the Lightning Network, can increase Bitcoin transfer time and efficiency. The Lightning Network is a Layer 2 solution that enables cheaper and faster transactions. Network upgrades, such as SegWit, can also accelerate transaction time.

How Long Does It Take to Confirm a Bitcoin Transaction?

Bitcoin can confirm seven transactions per second, which is 3,500 to 4,000 transactions per block. The confirmation time usually lasts about 10 minutes. That said, a transaction takes about six confirmations to be considered confirmed. A larger number of confirmations reduces the chances of double-spending. Moreover, once a transaction is confirmed, it’s considered irreversible.

If the transaction is left unconfirmed for 72 hours, it will be canceled. Traffic congestion is the main reason why BTC transactions remain unconfirmed. Other reasons include low fees and transactions that are larger than the block size. You can use several methods to reverse unconfirmed BTC transactions, such as the replace-by-fee method and the CPFP method.

How to Send Bitcoin

Now that you know how BTC transactions work and how long they take, here’s how to send Bitcoin to another wallet.

1. First, you need to create a Bitcoin wallet and fund it with BTC.
2. Next, enter the amount you wish to send and the recipient’s BTC wallet address. A BTC wallet address is a unique number that contains 26–35 characters. It usually starts with bc1 or 1. BTC uses cryptography to validate transactions, which is why BTC accounts have public and private keys. The former enables sending BTC, while the latter proves ownership.
3. Once you confirm the transaction, your wallet will use your private key to approve it. Approved transactions will be sent to nodes that will verify them. Verified transactions will then be added to the chain. Remember that the sending process will also depend on the type of BTC wallet you’re using.

Conclusion

So, how long does a Bitcoin transaction take? On average, BTC transactions take about one hour. However, this timeframe can extend to two hours if there’s traffic congestion. BTC confirmations usually take about 10 minutes, and most transactions require at least six confirmations. If the transaction remains unconfirmed for 72 hours, it will be canceled.

You can speed up the confirmation process by increasing the transaction fee, using the Lightning Network, and upgrading to SegWit.

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