Local or Unconfirmed Transaction

[Eddy Devon]

I have an incoming transaction with insufficient fees to confirm it. It flits between LOCAL or UNCONFIRMED. It's currently 130vMb from the tip (Electrum) or 112vMb on Blockstream. I think it's slowly getting further from the tip and it's been like this for 10 days.

Options in Electrum are to BROADCAST it or CPFP both of which I think are pointless or to DELETE it. I have no idea what deleting it does, would it return to sender, if so how long would that take? Then start again with appropriate fees?

Sender could RBF it but I'm not sure if there's a difference in RBF a LOCAL only transaction or an UNCONFIRMED one. If deleting it returns the BTC to the sender perhaps that's a better option?

TIA
Eddy

[Zaguru12]

The reason why you see a local or unconfirmed transaction sometimes is because of the server you are connected to at that time. The server that shows transaction as local is telling you that it doesn’t have the transaction again in its mempool, it purged it out due to low fees. While the one with an unconfirmed transaction fee still is it in his mempool.

The local transaction can actually be deleted but it would still be in the other mempools as unconfirmed. I would have said you should use the option of deleting the local transaction and then broadcast a new one but you’re not the sender so it’s not possible. What you need to do is to connect to that server still having it in its pool and then do a CPFP if the fee is more or less affordable to you and you already have funds in that wallet. The other options can be done can be done only by the sender

Sender could RBF it but I'm not sure if there's a difference in RBF a LOCAL only transaction or an UNCONFIRMED one. If deleting it returns the BTC to the sender perhaps that's a better option?

You can double spend a local transaction by deleting the other or RBF it. You can as well CPFP an unconfirmed transaction only. The deleting option doesn’t return it back to the sender except other nodes that have it in their pools drops it, if not it can still be confirmed later if the congestion reduces

[Charles-Tim]

Sender could RBF it but I'm not sure if there's a difference in RBF a LOCAL only transaction or an UNCONFIRMED one. If deleting it returns the BTC to the sender perhaps that's a better option?

The coin is not sent to the sender if you are able to delete it. Some node's mempool will still have it. If the sender can bump the fee using RBF, then tell him to do so. If the sender bump the fee, you will see it again on your wallet as unconfirmed and if the fee is enough for high priority, the transaction will get confirmed earlier.

[Ruttoshi]

I have an incoming transaction with insufficient fees to confirm it. It flits between LOCAL or UNCONFIRMED. It's currently 130vMb from the tip (Electrum) or 112vMb on Blockstream. I think it's slowly getting further from the tip and it's been like this for 10 days.

Zaguru have already explained why you are seeing such in your wallet.

Options in Electrum are to BROADCAST it or CPFP both of which I think are pointless or to DELETE it. I have no idea what deleting it does, would it return to sender, if so how long would that take? Then start again with appropriate fees?

If you delete the transaction does not mean that it has been deleted. You need to make a similar transaction of the same amount or higher than the previous amount that you sent, and you should also increase the transaction fee.

Sender could RBF it but I'm not sure if there's a difference in RBF a LOCAL only transaction or an UNCONFIRMED one. If deleting it returns the BTC to the sender perhaps that's a better option?

Deleting it will not return the BTC to the sender, because it will still be another node mempool, that can pick up the transaction again. Of course, the sender can use RBF or CPFP, as mentioned by the first two posters above.

[Charles-Tim]

You need to make a similar transaction of the same amount or higher than the previous amount that you sent, and you should also increase the transaction fee.

He is the receiver. What do you mean by similar transaction? Are you referring to CPFP? I will not advice that because of how the mempool is. I think the OP can tell the sender to bump the fee according to his post. That would be the best option while CPFP can be the second option. If it is me, I do not accept unconfirmed transaction and I will expect RBF instead. If the sender said it will be deducted from my money, I will accept because it is cheaper than CPFP.

Deleting it will not return the BTC to the sender, because it will still be another node mempool

Deleting it does not mean it is even deleted from some nodes mempool at all.

[Findingnemo]

This is the first time I read that a receiver can have a transaction that turns into local? Is it even possible?

If the transaction is dropped from the node that he is connected then the TX should become obsolete and not visible in the history tab as far as I understand...

OP can do CPFP if the sender is not interested in bumping fees, cause the fee have dropped considerably compared to what was required few hours back.

[hosseinimr93]

This is the first time I read that a receiver can have a transaction that turns into local? Is it even possible?

Yes, that's possible.
A transaction being local means that it exists in the wallet file, but the server you are connected to doesn't have it in its mempool.

If you connect to a server that has the transaction in its mempool, the transaction is written to the wallet file and you will see that in your wallet. If the server is changed to a one that doesn't have your transaction in its mempool, your transaction would be still in the wallet file and you will still see that in your wallet, but as local. The same thing can happen if you are still connected to the same server, but the server drops the transaction from its mempool.

[NotATether]

OP can do CPFP if the sender is not interested in bumping fees, cause the fee have dropped considerably compared to what was required few hours back.

I think a CPFP in this scenario is excessive. Fees according to mempool space are now 38 sats/vbyte which should be enough to at lest get close to the mempool's tip, assuming the OP's transaction wasn't sent with an ultra-low fee rate <14 sats/vbyte. For some reason, this rate is still the minimum for getting in the mempool, even while the recommended fee rate was close to 800 sats/vbyte a few days ago.