How many confirmations to be sure about a transaction?

[bitcoinear]

Hello,
how many confirmations should a Bitcoin transaction have in order to be sure that the transaction could not be resolved?

[1714724058]

1714724058

[1714724058]

1714724058

[1714724058]

1714724058

[shorena]

Hello,
how many confirmations should a Bitcoin transaction have in order to be sure that the transaction could not be resolved?

I assume you mean reversed, not resolved.

1 confirmation should be fine for most deals. If you do a high value transaction you can reasonably ask for more than one.

[Mickeyb]

Hello,
how many confirmations should a Bitcoin transaction have in order to be sure that the transaction could not be resolved?

Like Shorena already touched on explaining, it really depends on what you are trying to buy. For most of the stuff 1 confirmation is enough. If you are buying something really valuable like a real valuable car or you are receiving or buying 100 BTCs for example, then wait for 6 confirmations. More then 6 there is no need whatsoever!

[LFC_Bitcoin]

6 to be absolutely 100% safe.

[c-cex-finch]

6 is a good heuristic, however 1-2 is relatively safe for low/medium value transactions. The risks decrease exponentially with increased confirmations.

[silverleafy]

6 confirmations is super safe, and is also a completely arbitrary number that the core devs came up with several years ago. In reality, you only need 1 confirmation to be relatively safe and 3 for large transactions just to be sure. In most cases, you can accept unconfirmed transactions, although with those, you should check the fee and for any dust outputs just to make sure that it will get confirmed.

[VirosaGITS]

6 confirmations is super safe, and is also a completely arbitrary number that the core devs came up with several years ago. In reality, you only need 1 confirmation to be relatively safe and 3 for large transactions just to be sure. In most cases, you can accept unconfirmed transactions, although with those, you should check the fee and for any dust outputs just to make sure that it will get confirmed.

Might be good to point out that the wallet itself typically do not let you spend coins before 3 transactions. At least the one i used so far. So it would be a good ballpark as to what is safe.

But in truth, i never had any problem with 1 confirmation, which make it too late to submit another transaction afterwards with a higher fee to create a double spending attack.

I have to agree 6 is the go to if you're talking about a critical amount of money.

[iram66680]

One confirmation is enough for daily transaction and the risk is very low. After six confirmations, the only viable method to reverse a transaction is to execute a 51% attack. You don't need 51% of the network to execute it successfully but with it, you are almost certainly going to succeed. The more the confirmation, the harder it is to reverse. It is not possible to reverse blocks before the last checkpoint.

[LondonTrader]

Hi i would say...

1 confirmation for low risk or low btc amount eg coffee

6 confirmation for high risk high btc amount eg  trading on btc exchanges

Stay safe!

cheers :-)
LondonTrader

[Nextgen]

Hello,
how many confirmations should a Bitcoin transaction have in order to be sure that the transaction could not be resolved?

3 confirmations is the most common figure that all the escrows of the forum tends to choose.
double spending is not possible after that...

[iram66680]

Hello,
how many confirmations should a Bitcoin transaction have in order to be sure that the transaction could not be resolved?

3 confirmations is the most common figure that all the escrows of the forum tends to choose.
double spending is not possible after that...

Double spending will always be possible even after 6 confirmations given that the attacker controls a huge portion of the network hashrate (100% success rate for 51%). It is however true that it will get more difficult after more confirmations.

[foxkyu]

Hello,
how many confirmations should a Bitcoin transaction have in order to be sure that the transaction could not be resolved?

I think one transaction should be enough. Mostly bitcoin payment use one transaction to confirm it.

But to make sure, six transaction is much better.

[Amph]

Hello,
how many confirmations should a Bitcoin transaction have in order to be sure that the transaction could not be resolved?

3 confirmations is the most common figure that all the escrows of the forum tends to choose.
double spending is not possible after that...

there are other forms of attack that can succeed after 3 confirmations and up to evne 5 confirmations, check the weakness of bitcoin

i would wait few conf for small transactions and all the confirmation needed for big transaction

[medUSA]

how many confirmations should a Bitcoin transaction have in order to be sure that the transaction could not be resolved (reversed)?

Most have been said above. I want to add that 1-2 confirmations is enough under normal network conditions. A few weeks ago, didn't we have a SPV mining issue where a few pools kept mining down the invalid fork? I remember users were advised to raise the bar to 12 confirmations. I would suggest "6" to a newbie just in case.

[zodiac3011]

Usually you can trust it with just 1 confirmation. However if you are dealing with people who are acquaintance, counter-partner or dealers, I suggest 8-10 confirmations

[vendetahome]

i think it is enough to get only one transaction as most gambling websites accept deposits with only one confirmation

[medUSA]

i think it is enough to get only one transaction as most gambling websites accept deposits with only one confirmation

Actually, most don't. Most gambling sites allow you to start betting with your deposit with 1 confirmation, you can't withdraw your winnings until your deposit has 6 or more confirmations.

[Mickeyb]

i think it is enough to get only one transaction as most gambling websites accept deposits with only one confirmation

Actually, most don't. Most gambling sites allow you to start betting with your deposit with 1 confirmation, you can't withdraw your winnings until your deposit has 6 or more confirmations.

As far as I know you don't need even this one confirmation! I bet on sports using NitrogenSports and Directbet and they allow you to place bets with unconfirmed transactions.

It's not like you will run away until your bet (games) don't finish.

[iram66680]

how many confirmations should a Bitcoin transaction have in order to be sure that the transaction could not be resolved (reversed)?

Most have been said above. I want to add that 1-2 confirmations is enough under normal network conditions. A few weeks ago, didn't we have a SPV mining issue where a few pools kept mining down the invalid fork? I remember users were advised to raise the bar to 12 confirmations. I would suggest "6" to a newbie just in case.

Yes. However, the confirmation only affected SPV clients and older Bitcoin Core clients which do not verify whether the block complies with the network rules. If you run the latest Bitcoin Core version, you would not be affected by it.

[techboy2]

I use localbitcoins.com and they require at least 3 confirmations.