question about the 14 days limit for a transaction in the mempool

[dimasinteger]

Hi there,

let's say I have got 10 BTC and I sent 5 BTC with the 0.000001 basic required fee so my current balance is 5 BTC and let's assume we are in Dec 2017 when the Mempool was not empty and miners where including transactions with high fees for a long time . so according to the 14 days rule, the transaction will leave the mempool if it was not confirmed after 14 days? if yes, where will it go? will the amount be available in my BTC wallet again so will it be 10 BTC instead of 5 BTC and do I need to remake the payment?

Thanks

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[stompix]

Hi there,

According to the course so far, a transaction with very low fees for the minor can get stuck for up to 14 days and then it will leave mempool? and go where?

Not all mempools have this 14 days rule, it'a common misconception
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Transaction_expiration

This myth may have been started by Bitcoin Core's default behavior of removing transactions from its memory pool after 72 hours (later changed to 2 weeks). Due to this behavior, it became likely in most cases that a transaction would never confirm after it went 72 hours unconfirmed.

There are cases of transactions stuck for far longer than that, there was a guy with a tx stuck for a month and a half back in January.
And the transaction ins't going anywhere  . If it's dropped it's like it never existed.

if yes, where will it go?
will the amount be available in my BTC wallet again?

As I said, nowhere and yes the BTC will be available for spending.

PS, this thread covers it all including solutions if you run into this situation somewhere in the future.

[hugeblack]

will the amount be available in my BTC wallet again so will it be 10 BTC instead of 5 BTC and do I need to remake the payment?

I think you got your answer in the above comments. But I would like to clarify this point.

The wallet manages many addresses inside, so when you send, the values are updated with those addresses.
If the transaction is not confirmed then it means that money is still in your address.
When the transaction is confirmed, it means the money has been transferred from your address to the other address.
Double spending[1] means re-sending the confirmed transaction to another address and not getting new coins.

[1] https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Irreversible_Transactions

[dimasinteger]

Hi there,

According to the course so far, a transaction with very low fees for the minor can get stuck for up to 14 days and then it will leave mempool? and go where?

Not all mempools have this 14 days rule, it'a common misconception
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Transaction_expiration

This myth may have been started by Bitcoin Core's default behavior of removing transactions from its memory pool after 72 hours (later changed to 2 weeks). Due to this behavior, it became likely in most cases that a transaction would never confirm after it went 72 hours unconfirmed.

There are cases of transactions stuck for far longer than that, there was a guy with a tx stuck for a month and a half back in January.
And the transaction ins't going anywhere  . If it's dropped it's like it never existed.

if yes, where will it go?
will the amount be available in my BTC wallet again?

As I said, nowhere and yes the BTC will be available for spending.

PS, this thread covers it all including solutions if you run into this situation somewhere in the future.

Thank you for your clarification!

I was confused because I sent a BTC transaction (with the lowest fee by mistake!) on 26-Nov-2017 and got confirmed in Feb - 2018

so the 14 days thing is off the table ! since you also mentioned similar examples

appreciate your time!!

[pooya87]

so the 14 days thing is off the table ! since you also mentioned similar examples

it is not off at all. it is your confusion about the meaning of mempool. mempool is not one place that transactions go! mempool is the "memory" that each node has and each node has its own settings for that memory.
for example i can run a node and only allow transactions in "my" mempool that are paying between 1 and 3 satoshi/byte. but you may run a node that allows any satoshi/byte. and as for timing i may keep them for eternity and continue to broadcast any valid transaction that i receive but you may stick to the default of your node (14 days) and someone else may be more strict and do it only for 48 hours.

so in this situation when you broadcast your transaction i would receive your tx and continue having it and relaying it until it becomes invalid (like you double spending it) or confirmed.

[dimasinteger]

so the 14 days thing is off the table ! since you also mentioned similar examples

it is not off at all. it is your confusion about the meaning of mempool. mempool is not one place that transactions go! mempool is the "memory" that each node has and each node has its own settings for that memory.
for example i can run a node and only allow transactions in "my" mempool that are paying between 1 and 3 satoshi/byte. but you may run a node that allows any satoshi/byte. and as for timing i may keep them for eternity and continue to broadcast any valid transaction that i receive but you may stick to the default of your node (14 days) and someone else may be more strict and do it only for 48 hours.

so in this situation when you broadcast your transaction i would receive your tx and continue having it and relaying it until it becomes invalid (like you double spending it) or confirmed.

So where does the actual mempool exist?
Let's say,  I'm not running BTC node, I just have Bitcoin Core on my desktop and I send the transaction and it gets stuck for 2 months (this happened to me).
my transaction was stuck in mempool for the 2 months time as the fees were very little for miners to include it in a block.

but my other question now is where id my transaction get stuck? at one node? multiple nodes? A collection of nodes? can you please explain where the mempool is located and who is in control? miners? or just people running full btc nodes?

Cheers!

[Cajor]

The money won't return to your wallet once it has been transactioned. Once it is transactioned, it gone. Besides the 14 days limit is null.

[Larssoneos02]

Most customers will expel it from their pool of unverified exchanges sooner or later.The wallet you sent can't spend it since it's not affirmed. If the transaction is not confirmed then it means that money is still in your address.

[StephanHofmann]

Not every mempool has such transaction rules as it varies from one another and this is a very common misconception that a rule might apply to every mempool but it doesn't.

[Aidenpeters]

Usually if the sending isn't being confirmed or the receiver doesn't receive the coin, then it ought to move back to the main account. If it doesn't, then it might only showing the money isn't there, but it still might be used or spent. But won't it be wise to confirm as well at once?

[KassandrHicks]

Its a frustrating situation when it happens. I'm not sure if all mempools have this rule. You might lose the transaction but not the coins.