Electrum Unconfirmed Status Bought bitcoins from Coinmama sent them 2 Electrum

[crazymadogy2]

So I bought bitcoins off the site Coinmama today and then had the bitcoins sent to my Electrum wallet.

Currently the status of the bitcoins says I have a 0 mBTC balance but a 169.267 unconfirmed.
I take it the bitcoins are still pending? So my question is can I send those unconfirmed bitcoins to make a purchase on a different website or do I have to wait until those bitcoins post to my Electrum wallet?

Also how long is too long to wait for those bitcoins to confirm in my Electrum account?

Sorry I'm a newb and this is my first ever bitcoin purchase and transfer so I have no idea what I'm doing. I appreciate any help you guys can provide.

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[achow101]

While the transaction is unconfirmed, you should not spend from it to pay someone else. That spending transaction cannot confirm until your receiving one does, so whatever you spend it on may not accept the transaction and credit you with having paid them.

Your transaction is taking a long time to confirm probably because the transaction fee is too low. As the receiver of that transaction, there isn't much that you can do to make it confirm faster. You can try asking miners to confirm it for you.

[crazymadogy2]

Okay thanks for responding. I don't plan to send it to someone until it confirms in my Electrum wallet. Is there anyway to see how far in the blockchain it is?
And next time I do a transaction how do I know how much to pay miners??? Or how can I get the miners to speed it up?

Sorry for the dumb questions. I'm super new to this.

[achow101]

Okay thanks for responding. I don't plan to send it to someone until it confirms in my Electrum wallet. Is there anyway to see how far in the blockchain it is?

The transaction is not in the blockchain. There is no "progress" or a set time limit for the transaction to confirm. It is impossible to say when a transaction will confirm as that is attempting to predict the future.

And next time I do a transaction how do I know how much to pay miners??? Or how can I get the miners to speed it up?

Use a wallet that supports dynamic fees. This means that the wallet will choose a fee rate based upon the state of the network at the time you make the transaction. This will ensure that an optimal fee is set. You can also use a site like http://bitcoinfees.21.co/ to get the optimal fee rate and manually set that before making a transaction.

[crazymadogy2]

Okay and my last question is there a way to cancel my transaction and pay a better fee to speed it up or should I just wait it out?

Man this kinda sucks because I can't make my purchase until I get this confirmed.

[achow101]

Okay and my last question is there a way to cancel my transaction and pay a better fee to speed it up or should I just wait it out?

Man this kinda sucks because I can't make my purchase until I get this confirmed.

Because you are not the sender (you don't have any control over the parameters of the transaction except the amount), there is nothing you can do. Bitcoin transactions cannot be canceled nor can they be modified. You can either just wait or ask a miner to confirm it.

For the second option, you can try using https://www.viabtc.com/tools/txaccelerator/, and contacting the users Quickseller an macbook-air. Those two users have access to a mining pool and are known to have helped people with similar issues before.

[LLec]

Okay and my last question is there a way to cancel my transaction and pay a better fee to speed it up or should I just wait it out?

Man this kinda sucks because I can't make my purchase until I get this confirmed.

Because you are not the sender (you don't have any control over the parameters of the transaction except the amount), there is nothing you can do. Bitcoin transactions cannot be canceled nor can they be modified. You can either just wait or ask a miner to confirm it.

For the second option, you can try using https://www.viabtc.com/tools/txaccelerator/, and contacting the users Quickseller an macbook-air. Those two users have access to a mining pool and are known to have helped people with similar issues before.

I have seen many other members saying to try their service at viabtc. But I also saw some other saying not to due to security being a part of one of the things that come to mind.
So you are saying that is in fact safe to use their so called service to expediate the sends stuck in the blockchain?
There is a thread that was just started in discussion that stated there was 81,000 unconfirmed transactions documented around 23 minutes ago. That sure is alot and I think more than last time this happened.
It took almost the entire 72 hours to get my first confirmation last time this happened.
That is why I am inquiring about this viabtc service now.
Thanks.

[achow101]

I have seen many other members saying to try their service at viabtc. But I also saw some other saying not to due to security being a part of one of the things that come to mind.
So you are saying that is in fact safe to use their so called service to expediate the sends stuck in the blockchain?
There is a thread that was just started in discussion that stated there was 81,000 unconfirmed transactions documented around 23 minutes ago. That sure is alot and I think more than last time this happened.
It took almost the entire 72 hours to get my first confirmation last time this happened.
That is why I am inquiring about this viabtc service now.
Thanks.

Did you know that it's possible to ask a question without writing an entire paragraph with a whole tangent in the middle? You should do that because your post is almost off topic and signature spam. In fact, it probably is signature spam but it is a legitimate question so I won't delete it.

There is no risk to using services like ViaBTC's. They only ask for a transaction id, and anyone can submit a transaction to be "accelerated". Transaction ids are already public, as are the details of everyone's transactions, so it doesn't matter. Revealing your transaction id or its details does not reduce your security as everyone running a full node already knows the details of your transaction, and anyone can easily lookup your transaction in any block explorer. Their service "accelerates" transactions by increasing the priority of the transaction in the mempool of their mining pool. That means that if ViaBTC's mining pool finds a block, it has a higher probability of being included in the block.

Also, transactions are not "stuck in the blockchain". They are not in the blockchain, thus they cannot be stuck in it. The whole point of mining and confirmations is to be included in the blockchain. "Stuck" transactions are just transactions that have remained unconfirmed for longer than the sender or receiver wants it to be.

[crazymadogy2]

I really appreciate the responses guys. I'm such a noob but am really trying to learn more about this. I will see if I can contact someone to help me. Thank you.

[crazymadogy2]

Honestly I think it is ridiculous with the wait time for the bitcoins to be confirmed....am I being unreasonable?
I understand the security levels with bitcoins and stuff but practicality wise how is this beneficial if I have to wait hours or days just for the bitcoins to be confirmed??? Especially not knowing when.
Like what if I had a really important transaction that was time sensitive....even not so just practicality wise it is ridiculous.

Is it like this with all wallets and transfers or are there better wallets to use and better places to buy bitcoins from?

[achow101]

Honestly I think it is ridiculous with the wait time for the bitcoins to be confirmed....am I being unreasonable?
I understand the security levels with bitcoins and stuff but practicality wise how is this beneficial if I have to wait hours or days just for the bitcoins to be confirmed??? Especially not knowing when.
Like what if I had a really important transaction that was time sensitive....even not so just practicality wise it is ridiculous.

Is it like this with all wallets and transfers or are there better wallets to use and better places to buy bitcoins from?

If you pay a sufficient transaction fee, then this is not a problem at all. I rarely run into any issues with sending because I use a wallet which has dynamic fees so it sets a sufficient transaction fee to be confirmed within 3 blocks.

[crazymadogy2]

I'm confused about the dynamic fees though.
My Electrum wallet has the dynamic fees box checked.
And it's estimated that it will take 10 blocks to complete.

[achow101]

I'm confused about the dynamic fees though.
My Electrum wallet has the dynamic fees box checked.
And it's estimated that it will take 10 blocks to complete.

What are you confused about? You can move the fee slider forward to get a better fee.

[crazymadogy2]

Am I able to do this after the fact?
While it's currently pending?

[achow101]

Am I able to do this after the fact?
While it's currently pending?

No. You cannot change a transaction once it has been created and broadcast. Setting the fee can only be done at the time of creation.

[crazymadogy2]

Okay thank you for the help. So I guess it is just a waiting game sigh....