Don't get caught out by Bitcoin confirmation time!
Last week I moved some BTC from my Poloniex account to a Jaxx account on my ipad in order that I could turn it into cash at my local exchange in Ubud, Bali. It took around an hour for the BTC to arrive in the Jaxx account and the transaction was just a few minutes when I was in the exchange shop.
This morning I merrily did a similar transaction from Poloniex to Jaxx with the intention of grabbing some cash for today.
HOWEVER...
As I write this it has been six hours since I made the transaction and it is still awaiting approval as you can see below.
Needless to say, my family and I were somewhat disappointed at not having any cash today.
So, looking into the matter further I checked to see the average confirmation time of Bitcoin on a blockchain info chart:
https://blockchain.info/charts/avg-confirmation-time?timespan=30days
And as you can see in the main image at the top, the average confirmation time when I made the transaction was 262 minutes.
Which seems to me to be rather a long time. Especially when you consider that Steem transfers are INSTANT!
Thankfully...
Bitcoin is rising steadily at the moment (currently at $1,282) and this delay will only mean that I will see more Indonesian Rupiah for my BTC when I do the exchange tomorrow.
But it is good to be aware of the time it can potentially take to make this transaction.
Lesson learned!
Blessings to you all.
exchanges outputs are always extremely slow. several hours mean delay. i have the same experience.
The transfer went through late last night. Around 16h after pressing the button. Old tech. Needs to update. Or be replaced! Am hoping the account I created @steeemshop will encourage people to start using steem instead of bitcoin to buy things :)
Me too, I have same experience ! :)
I got caught by that a few days ago as well. Took over 14 hours using the 0.005 BTC transaction fee that is set in the Electrum Bitcoin wallet I use mostly. The second time I did a transaction and was aware of this I used an online wallet which automatically suggested to pay about $1 to get the "normal" transaction time. On a $5 transaction. So this really put me off Bitcoin for the moment as an actually usable currency.
Which is a shame, Bitcoin has become accepted at so many places that it was really getting there to become a viable alternative to PayPal. I'm sure this issue will go away at some point, but I'm also sure there is going to be a next time when things get as bad as this and that is unacceptable for widespread adoption.
So it's a very good thing that there is healthy competition on the crypto coin market and there are also now multiple payment providers who make it trivial for a company to accept payment with multiple coins not just Bitcoin, so it's not as hard anymore for an alternative coin to get as widely accepted as a payment method as it used to be.
You said it! Thank goodness for the altcoins! Bitcoin feels like very old tech now and needs to update. I recently started @steemshop with the intention of getting people to use steem as a method of exchange. Fingers crossed for the future!
Aha... fate has it that temporary lost in transit does not mean lost in value. Turn out to be good for you ☺
The transfer has come through now and yep, BTC up to $1,291 at this moment. So, happy days! :)
struggling with old tech
You said it! Nice giff :)
...and bring on the new tech!
"Awaiting Approval" has nothing to do with Bitcoin confirmation times. https://poloniex.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/1000244844-my-withdrawal-is-awaiting-approval
Thanks very much for this info. Was not aware till now. Up to 24h it says! Not much good if you are in a hurry.
Nothing lasts longer than wait ....
haha :)
steem trasfers are comparatively faster because steem blockchain is far less busy....
Check again, the steem blockchain is #2 in terms of transactions and wouldn't have any more delay even if we had 100x the transaction volume.
#2, yes, but she step is VERY high.. and fewer nodes also.
My experience with steem transfers is that they have been nothing more than a few seconds. Let's hope it stays this way when the blockchain gets busier...
What are the transaction charges? I'm surprised these issues are not putting people off Bitcoin. It's not really viable for small payments where you need a quick confirmation and other coins may have a chance to grab that market.
The median transaction fee hit a new All Time High recently of $0.73. The average fee is considerably higher.
I think it is putting people off Bitcoin, and that's why Bitcoin dominance is so low. The price rise is going to be short lived and we'll be seeing a lot of pain soon, IMO.
That makes Bitcoin impractical for some of my potential uses of it, e.g. buying parts from The Pi Hut or books on Humnle Bundle. I'm not going to be transferring hundreds of dollars. I really want to be able to pay with Steem :) Maybe one day
Am doing my best to make that happen with @steemshop. Fingers crossed for the future!
Because yes, as you say Bitcoin is impractical for this purpose.
I'll be looking at ways to support those selling for Steem. I've done so a few times already.
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