My transaction was invisible in Sparrow Wallet for two weeks!

[OveK893]

So I have set up my Coldcard and started by sending a small amount to it for testing. The least I could send from my exchange was 0.0014 BTC. So I did this May 6th. After approximately one hour I could confirm by copying my public key (generated in Sparrow Wallet) in mempool that my balance was 0.0014 BTC.

However, in Sparrow Wallet under Transactions it said "No transactions". This also meant that I could not send any bitcoin from my wallet since I got the message "not sufficient funds" even when I tried to send a much smaller amount than my 0.0014 BTC.

Today, however, after two weeks the transaction of 0.0014 BTC was visible in Sparrow. I did had my Sparrow Wallet app running all night. Can that be the reason? The program needed to run for a while?

[Charles-Tim]

Today, however, after two weeks the transaction of 0.0014 BTC was visible in Sparrow. I did had my Sparrow Wallet app running all night. Can that be the reason? The program needed to run for a while?

That is not the cause of it. If the transaction is confirmed already, you should be able to see it on your Sparrow wallet and be able to spend it. You should even be able to see unconfirmed transaction on Sparrow. I mean if the coin is not yet confirmed, you would have seen the coin on your balance on Sparrow.

[Mia Chloe]

Op are you sure you sent those bitcoins to the right address? And besides how sure are you that you imported the right seed phrase?
Sincerely op your problem is a little confusing.  The reason I am saying so is if your transaction was sent from an exchange ( if not a scam one), it should have been received within a maximum period of 24 hours. This is because a majority of exchanges have mining pools while smaller ones accelerate their transactions under big pools for faster confirmation.

On the other hand, if the fees were too low, (which an exchange will almost never do) it should have been dropped since except some nodes kept broadcasting it which is quite rare. Op if you have a TXID for that transaction , kindly verify it on a block chain explorer or the Mempool. If not confirm that that exchange is not a scam one and also make sure your wallet is synced with the block chain because that's only when it can update your balance.

So I did this May 6th. After approximately one hour I could confirm by copying my public key (generated in Sparrow Wallet) in mempool that my balance was 0.0014 BTC.

Besides did you make use of a public key instead of a an address?

[OveK893]

Op are you sure you sent those bitcoins to the right address? And besides how sure are you that you imported the right seed phrase?
Sincerely op your problem is a little confusing.  The reason I am saying so is if your transaction was sent from an exchange ( if not a scam one), it should have been received within a maximum period of 24 hours. This is because a majority of exchanges have mining pools while smaller ones accelerate their transactions under big pools for faster confirmation.

On the other hand, if the fees were too low, (which an exchange will almost never do) it should have been dropped since except some nodes kept broadcasting it which is quite rare. Op if you have a TXID for that transaction , kindly verify it on a block chain explorer or the Mempool. If not confirm that that exchange is not a scam one and also make sure your wallet is synced with the block chain because that's only when it can update your balance.

So I did this May 6th. After approximately one hour I could confirm by copying my public key (generated in Sparrow Wallet) in mempool that my balance was 0.0014 BTC.

Besides did you make use of a public key instead of a an address?

Yes, an wallet address, sorry. Not familiar with all this terminology....

So the address was generated in Sparrow Wallet. I copied that and pasted it in mempool. And the transaction showed there and confirmed - but not in Sparrow Wallet until two weeks later.

[EL MOHA]

So the address was generated in Sparrow Wallet. I copied that and pasted it in mempool. And the transaction showed there and confirmed - but not in Sparrow Wallet until two weeks later.

If the transaction was actually confirmed at the very first place and you checked the Address balance on mempool then the transaction did arrived at that time. Also sparrow is a wallet not exchanges requires a minimum deposit and without the minimum deposit the amount wouldn’t be visible.

What I think actually happened was a synchronization error, you possibly hadn’t synchronized to the block where the transaction was added into, and that was why the address was empty and you couldn’t send out anything. I have read multiple times here about sparrow wallet having synchronization issues. Now that you can see the coin on your address it means the synchronization is completed or has actual got to the block the transaction is in.

Yes, an wallet address, sorry. Not familiar with all this terminology....

This terminologies are somewhat similar but quite different you can use this site  learnmeabitcoin.com to get to know the difference of this terminologies

[Pmalek]

Are you using a public node with Sparrow wallet or perhaps your own Bitcoin node? If you are using a public server, it shouldn't take more than a couple of seconds (or minutes max) to synchronize. If you are connecting to your own node, it might have been out of sync and it needed time to download the blockchain.

I use Sparrow with one of my airgapped hardware wallets, and the transactions are visible in the wallet within seconds of sending them. I am guessing it's a sync issue. Go into the settings and change server if it happens again.
Do you perhaps have multiple wallets, and you were looking at the wrong one?

Now that the transaction is finally visible, I recommend you try to spend from the wallet before moving any significant bitcoin to it.
Have you verified your Sparrow wallet and made sure to download it from an official source?

You haven't imported your seed phrase from Coldcard into Sparrow wallet have you? It should only have your master public key.

[OveK893]

Are you using a public node with Sparrow wallet or perhaps your own Bitcoin node? If you are using a public server, it shouldn't take more than a couple of seconds (or minutes max) to synchronize. If you are connecting to your own node, it might have been out of sync and it needed time to download the blockchain.

I use Sparrow with one of my airgapped hardware wallets, and the transactions are visible in the wallet within seconds of sending them. I am guessing it's a sync issue. Go into the settings and change server if it happens again.
Do you perhaps have multiple wallets, and you were looking at the wrong one?

Now that the transaction is finally visible, I recommend you try to spend from the wallet before moving any significant bitcoin to it.
Have you verified your Sparrow wallet and made sure to download it from an official source?

You haven't imported your seed phrase from Coldcard into Sparrow wallet have you? It should only have your master public key.

I use public server. No I don't have multiple wallets.


Yes, I was really certain I downloaded Sparrow from the right site. No, I haven't imported my seed phrase into Sparrow.

Yes, I have tried to send 0.0004 BTC. Still stuck in transaction so far..... But this time it appeared in transactions in Sparrow Wallet at once: unconfirmed.

[Pmalek]

Yes, I was really certain I downloaded Sparrow from the right site.

Check your transaction history in your browser and post the address here please. Just to be 100% sure.

Yes, I have tried to send 0.0004 BTC. Still stuck in transaction so far..... But this time it appeared in transactions in Sparrow Wallet at once: unconfirmed.

So, your transaction is still unconfirmed, even now? Can you tell me what fees you paid for your transaction? I don't think that should be the reason why it was invisible in Sparrow all this time, but you never know.

[OveK893]

Yes, I was really certain I downloaded Sparrow from the right site.

Check your transaction history in your browser and post the address here please. Just to be 100% sure.

Yes, I have tried to send 0.0004 BTC. Still stuck in transaction so far..... But this time it appeared in transactions in Sparrow Wallet at once: unconfirmed.

So, your transaction is still unconfirmed, even now? Can you tell me what fees you paid for your transaction? I don't think that should be the reason why it was invisible in Sparrow all this time, but you never know.

I paid USD 0.52 for the transaction. Still unconfirmed after 24 hours.....

To be clear: this is *the last* transaction - trying to send 0.0004 BTC back to the exchange. This is visible in Sparrow.


OK. I actually got some problem when verifying downloading of Sparrow. I followed the procedure described in sparrowwallet.com: first I downloaded the main program (for Windows) + the two manifest files to my download folder. After that I run through those three verification procedure described. The two first went fine – however the last didn’t. When I copied the text “CertUtil – hashfile Sparrow-1.9.1.exe SHA256 | findstr /v “hash” “ into my terminal, I got the message “System can not find the file”.

I wasn’t aware of this forum at the time so I couldn’t find any solution to this problem.

So I downloaded anyway. But maybe there is something fishy here?

I now actually see that the verification process for v. 1.8.3 or later is much simpler. Maybe I should uninstall Sparrow and install again following the simpler verification procedure?

[Pmalek]

I paid USD 0.52 for the transaction. Still unconfirmed after 24 hours.....

The USD amount isn't important. What matters is how much sats per vByte you paid. You should see a number from 1 sat/vByte and more. $0.52 could be enough or too little depending on the number of inputs/outputs and type of addresses you used.

Did you check your transaction history to see where you downloaded the software from? What's the address?
You can't just download a new version and verify the signature for that one. You should verify the authenticity of the software currently installed on your computer.

I am not sure why you are having issues verifying the software. I did it some time ago by following the instructions on the official website, and had no problems. Did you change the directory in your terminal to the correct one where the files you are trying to verify are located?

[Zaguru12]

OK. I actually got some problem when verifying downloading of Sparrow. I followed the procedure described in sparrowwallet.com: first I downloaded the main program (for Windows) + the two manifest files to my download folder. After that I run through those three verification procedure described. The two first went fine – however the last didn’t. When I copied the text “CertUtil – hashfile Sparrow-1.9.1.exe SHA256 | findstr /v “hash” “ into my terminal, I got the message “System can not find the file”.

This is probably maybe you downloaded the wrong software or probably your system has an issue if not it is much easier to verify. As others have pointed out the transaction not getting visible on to your wallet Is definitely a sync problem and it got visible when it got synced to that block.

I paid USD 0.52 for the transaction. Still unconfirmed after 24 hours.....

To be clear: this is *the last* transaction - trying to send 0.0004 BTC back to the exchange. This is visible in Sparrow.

The fee even though we don’t know for sure how many sats/vbyte it is due to bitcoin to usd rate but from may 6th which you made this transaction this shouldn’t be above 6sats/vbyte which the mempool hasn’t reduced to from that time. A little higher than that will have gotten you transaction confirmed.

So if you the sought out the software verification issue just simply increase the fee as I know sparrow allows that. Something Above 10sat/vbyte could actually get your transaction confirmed currently

[OveK893]

I paid USD 0.52 for the transaction. Still unconfirmed after 24 hours.....

The USD amount isn't important. What matters is how much sats per vByte you paid. You should see a number from 1 sat/vByte and more. $0.52 could be enough or too little depending on the number of inputs/outputs and type of addresses you used.

OK. I don't remember the sat/vByte. Where can I check that in Sparrow after broadcasting the transaction?

I paid USD 0.52 for the transaction. Still unconfirmed after 24 hours.....

The USD amount isn't important. What matters is how much sats per vByte you paid. You should see a number from 1 sat/vByte and more. $0.52 could be enough or too little depending on the number of inputs/outputs and type of addresses you used.

Did you check your transaction history to see where you downloaded the software from? What's the address?
You can't just download a new version and verify the signature for that one. You should verify the authenticity of the software currently installed on your computer.

I am not sure why you are having issues verifying the software. I did it some time ago by following the instructions on the official website, and had no problems. Did you change the directory in your terminal to the correct one where the files you are trying to verify are located?

I downloaded from Sparrowwallet.com. That should be okay?

Sorry I don't understand the question (change the directory in your terminal). I followed the instruction for verification excactly and had a problem at the last step.  

I think I have to uninstall and install again following the simpler verification. BTW: the transaction is still unconfirmed after 48 hours.

I paid USD 0.52 for the transaction. Still unconfirmed after 24 hours.....

The USD amount isn't important. What matters is how much sats per vByte you paid. You should see a number from 1 sat/vByte and more. $0.52 could be enough or too little depending on the number of inputs/outputs and type of addresses you used.

OK. I don't remember the sat/vByte. Where can I check that in Sparrow after broadcasting the transaction?

I found it. The fee was 5.28 sats/vB. Anyone know how can I rebroadcast with a higher fee in Sparrow/Coldcard?  

[Xal0lex]

I found it. The fee was 5.28 sats/vB. Anyone know how can I rebroadcast with a higher fee in Sparrow/Coldcard? 

You need to use a transaction acceleration service or ask someone who has the ability to speed up your transaction. However, you may have to pay a fee to do this. Although there are free transaction acceleration services available. I think I saw a topic with such a service somewhere on the forum.

[satscraper]

I paid USD 0.52 for the transaction. Still unconfirmed after 24 hours.....

The USD amount isn't important. What matters is how much sats per vByte you paid. You should see a number from 1 sat/vByte and more. $0.52 could be enough or too little depending on the number of inputs/outputs and type of addresses you used.

OK. I don't remember the sat/vByte. Where can I check that in Sparrow after broadcasting the transaction?

I found it. The fee was 5.28 sats/vB. Anyone know how can I rebroadcast with a higher fee in Sparrow/Coldcard? 

On default any transaction broadcast by Sparrow is  flagged as  RBF which means you can rebroadcast it with higher fee if your Coldcard wallet has a fund to cover it.

To do this right click on the relevant transaction and select increase fee.

[Pmalek]

I downloaded from Sparrowwallet.com. That should be okay?

In theory, it should. That is the official website of the Sparrow wallet.

BTW: the transaction is still unconfirmed after 48 hours.

I am not surprised considering that you paid just above 5 sat/vByte for it. I don't think the mempools cleared to the point of confirming transactions below the 7-8 sat/vByte since the time you broadcast your transaction. If you are in a hurry to have it confirmed, you should do a RBF transaction. It should be as simple as right-clicking on the output you sent and finding the "increase fee" option as satscraper's source confirms. If you are not in a hurry, wait it out a little bit more. Your coins aren't going anywhere. They will either be dropped from most mempools or be confirmed when the conditions allow it.

You need to use a transaction acceleration service or ask someone who has the ability to speed up your transaction. However, you may have to pay a fee to do this. Although there are free transaction acceleration services available. I think I saw a topic with such a service somewhere on the forum.

Mempool.space has a paid service to speed up stuck transactions. The one you are thinking of is probably ViaBTC. But his fee isn't high enough for the transaction to be supported for a free bump.

[Xal0lex]

You need to use a transaction acceleration service or ask someone who has the ability to speed up your transaction. However, you may have to pay a fee to do this. Although there are free transaction acceleration services available. I think I saw a topic with such a service somewhere on the forum.

The one you are thinking of is probably ViaBTC. But his fee isn't high enough for the transaction to be supported for a free bump.

Why not give it a try if it's free? I currently have 17 free transaction accelerations available in my ViaBTC account. If I had the transaction ID of the author of the topic, I would try it.

[dkbit98]

I found it. The fee was 5.28 sats/vB. Anyone know how can I rebroadcast with a higher fee in Sparrow/Coldcard?  

So you want other people to pay higher fees for transactions you made?  
Learn from this mistake, pay yourself fee to complete your transaction while they are still reasonably lower, and always double check mempool.space website before making any transactions in future.

[satscraper]

If I had the transaction ID of the author of the topic, I would try it.

Depends on the size of his transaction as ViaBTC sets two limits, the first one - on trx size itself and  the second one - on the fee paid for transaction. If the size is big, more than 0.5 KB they will refuse to accelerate transaction free. On the the hand if the size is too small, then at OP's 5.3 sat/vB it would result in small fee, less than 0.0001 BTC/KB, which doesn't  fit  FREE-Submission-requirement of ViaBTC.

[Pmalek]

Why not give it a try if it's free? I currently have 17 free transaction accelerations available in my ViaBTC account. If I had the transaction ID of the author of the topic, I would try it.

I am not sure now if you have a subscription for ViaBTC or not. I have never needed to accelerate a transaction to look deeper into how ViaBTC works. Are those 17 free transaction accelerations part of a free or paid package that you have? If it's a free service, it's not going to work for OP's case. Like I said, he is only paying 5 sats/vByte in fees. A free acceleration requires 10 sat/Byte, which should be around 16 sat/vByte to be accepted.