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How Many Confirmations Does a Crypto Transaction Need?

What Is a Confirmation?​

A transaction gets its first confirmation when the network adds it to a block. Every new block added after that one counts as one more confirmation.

More confirmations make a transaction harder to undo. Right after it enters a block, a network can very rarely reorganize its latest blocks. A few blocks later, the transaction is effectively permanent. Some networks call this point finality.

When Does Gem Wallet Show a Transaction as Successful?​

Gem Wallet shows a transaction as Successful once the network reports it in a block. On Bitcoin, that's the first confirmation. On most other networks, it's as soon as the transaction is included and finalized under that network's rules, often within seconds.

Until then, it shows Pending. See Understanding Transaction Status and Why Is My Crypto Transaction Pending?.

Why Is My Exchange Deposit Still Pending?​

Exchanges set their own rule for how many confirmations a deposit needs before they credit it, and it's often more than one. So a deposit can show Successful in Gem Wallet and on the explorer, but still Pending on the exchange.

How long you wait depends on two things:

  • The exchange's requirement for that network, usually shown on its deposit page.
  • How fast the network makes blocks. Bitcoin adds a block about every 10 minutes, so several confirmations can take an hour or more. Faster networks reach the same number in seconds or minutes.

If the exchange's requirement has been met and the deposit still isn't credited, see Crypto Transaction Confirmed but Not Received.

How to Check the Number of Confirmations​

  1. Open the transaction in Activity.
  2. Tap it to open it on the block explorer.
  3. Look for Confirmations, or compare the transaction's block number with the latest block.

See What Is a Block Explorer and How Do I Use It?.

Common Questions​

Can a confirmed transaction be reversed? No. Once a transaction has enough confirmations, nobody can reverse it, including Gem Wallet.

Can I speed up confirmations? A higher network fee can get a transaction into a block sooner, but it doesn't make later blocks come faster. Gem Wallet doesn't offer Speed Up for a transaction that's already pending.

Why does Bitcoin take longer than other networks? Bitcoin makes a block about every 10 minutes, and many services wait for several of them. Other networks make blocks much more often.