A transfer that shows instantly in one wallet and takes twenty minutes in another is not a bug. Both are waiting for the same thing — they just disagree about how long to wait before telling you.
What a confirmation actually is#
A confirmation is one block mined on top of the block containing your transaction. Zero confirmations means the transaction is broadcast but not yet in a block. One confirmation means it has been included once. Each further block makes reversing it exponentially more expensive.
How many confirmations you need#
The threshold is a risk decision, not a technical constant. Larger amounts warrant more blocks:
- Small amounts — one confirmation is usually enough
- Mid-size transfers — three confirmations
- Large transfers — six or more, the long-standing convention
- Chains with fast blocks — proportionally more, since each block is worth less work
Bitcoin#
Blocks arrive roughly every ten minutes, so six confirmations is about an hour. That interval is an average, not a schedule — two blocks can land a minute apart, or forty minutes apart.
Faster chains#
Networks with second-scale blocks reach the same confidence in far less wall-clock time, which is why a stablecoin transfer often clears while a Bitcoin deposit is still pending.
Waiting for confirmations is not the network being slow. It is the network being certain.
What to do if a deposit is stuck#
Work through these in order before contacting anyone:
- Find the transaction hash in your sending wallet
- Look it up on a block explorer for that network
- Check whether it has been included in a block at all
- If it is unconfirmed, check the fee you paid against the current going rate
- If it is confirmed but not credited, send the hash to support — that is the only detail they need
Common misconceptions#
Sending a second transaction does not speed up the first, and it usually creates a second problem. A low fee delays inclusion but does not lose the funds. And a transaction that never made it into a block cannot be cancelled — only replaced, and only on networks that support replacement.
