With the recent surge in Bitcoin price, the scalability of the network is really being tested. At the time of this writing, there are around 190,000 unconfirmed transactions on the blockchain. Check the unconfirmed transactions here https://blockchain.info/unconfirmed-transactions.
That is actually a lot better than yesterday where it was sitting around 250k. While some have to wait days for their transaction, here is how to take it down to hours or a lot less. But first, what determines the speed of a transaction? For an order to be confirmed, it needs to be in a block that is being mined. And who mines the block? Miners of course. But you knew that. You see, miners are actual people who manage machines to constantly mine on the bitcoin blockchain. Those machines/computers take resources to run, such as electricity and maintenance fees. They require upkeep. These fees are paid through bitcoin. The very bitcoin they are mining. That is where the network transaction fees come from.
Now, what does this have to do with the longer transaction time we are seeing? Well just like anyone running a service, they are going to take the higher paying jobs. As the orders come on the blockchain, miners are going to confirm the transactions that are willing to pay the higher transaction fee. The lower fee you pay, the longer you will wait. The bad news is, you cant always control what kind of fee you pay. Even if you are willing to pay more, you might not have that option on most exchanges or wallets. The good news is some wallets do provide that option. And one of those wallets is the Blockchain Wallet from BlockChain.info
If you are making transactions this Bitcoin season, especially if you are trading regularly, see below how to minimize your transaction times.
Below is the Blockchain wallet. If you don't have one set one up, you can set it up for free at Blockchain.info.
Chances are if you are sending bitcoin to an exchange, the time you wait is going to be longer than if you were to send it to a local wallet. So in this case, lets say you have some bitcoin and want to send it to an exchange for trading.
First, you want to send your bitcoin to your new blockchain wallet. You will make sure Bitcoin is selected on the left pane and then click Send.
Once the form opens you will fill in the address and amount you want to send. At the bottom, you will see a dropdown box for "Transaction Fee". Click it and you have the option of selecting "Priority". This will set your transaction fee higher which will in turn give you higher priority on the blockchain.
There is also a "customize transaction fee link that allows you to set the fee for whatever you are willing to pay. Now that is a pretty cool option because most places tell you what you are going to pay. Here, you get to make a choice. Just be warned. The lower you go the longer it takes.
Well I hope that helps and thanks for reading!
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