Bitcoin Forum

I have an old transaction going on 2500 confirmations, why is it necessary to keep confirming a transaction? Also if bitcoin takes off and there are more and more transactions but the network power doesn't grow equally won't transactions really slow down?

Even if confirmations increase it doesn't mean another block confirmed; it means the next block needn't and didn't deny it. So if the transaction is filled the tenth block and you are in the 15th block you have 5 confirmations.

Confirmations are just the number of blocks that have been added to the blockchain since the one that included your own transaction.  They will add up into infinity, roughly one every ten minutes.  There is no additional cost for more confirmations.


No.  There is a balancing algorithim at work here.  The 'difficulty' of the proof-of-work system adjusts itself to fit the total network power once every two weeks or so, and aims to create blocks as close to every ten minutes as is possible.

This is a confusing explaination to me, and I already know how the system works.  Lost in translation, perhaps?

The confirmations just means it didn't got deny in the blockchain that followed and is just a count of blocks since it got filled.

thanks all

If the current number of blocks in existence (C) equals 15, and the block number that a transaction was filled in (T) equals 10, then that means that there were C minus T = 15 - 10 = 5 confirmations for that transaction.