Why does my wallet sometimes show a balance but the transaction is still "pend

[doffiaicial]

 I noticed something that confused me as a beginner.
My wallet sometimes shows a balance increase immediately after receiving a transaction, yet the status still remains “unconfirmed”.
  Is it correct that most non-custodial wallets broadcast the expected balance based on unconfirmed UTXOs, but the coins can still be reversed if the sender uses a higher-fee replacement (RBF)?
   I just want to understand the risk properly:

 1. Is spending an unconfirmed UTXO always unsafe?

 2. Do some wallets hide unconfirmed funds on purpose to avoid confusion?

Just trying to get the best security habits.
 

[philipma1957]

What wallet are you using?

As for waiting for confirms

2 confirms is really safe to wait if you are talking btc


Look at this tx.

https://btc1.trezor.io/tx/91e4670c066df703d756d9ff6bcf95566585ff4e872d19c75a929c4f697c3395

It is over 30 days old .

It is from me to me .

Two different addresses.

If I sent this to a person it could be reversed since it has zero confirms even though it is 30 days old.

Once it has 2 confirms it is far too hard to reverse

[BitMaxz]

So you mean you receive a BTC, and it is immediately gone? Disappear from your balance?
Possibly it could be a double spend.

If you are dealing with someone, always make sure to receive 1 confirmation or 3 confirmations before giving the product or service because unconfirmed transactions can be reversible to those who know how to do it.

About hiding unconfirmed transactions Electrum has a feature to hide unconfirmed transactions, which is good for avoiding spending unconfirmed transactions.

[DubemIfedigbo001]

I noticed something that confused me as a beginner.
My wallet sometimes shows a balance increase immediately after receiving a transaction, yet the status still remains “unconfirmed”.

This is because the node that your wallet is connected to has verified the transaction as valid, but it's not yet confirmed into a block by a miner.

 Is it correct that most non-custodial wallets broadcast the expected balance based on unconfirmed UTXOs, but the coins can still be reversed if the sender uses a higher-fee replacement (RBF)?

If the transaction remains unconfirmed in the mempool maybe because of inadequate fee, the sender can bump the fee and spend it back to his wallet. You can still use CPFP to increase the fee so it can be confirmed faster and spent to your wallet.

1. Is spending an unconfirmed UTXO always unsafe?

You cannot spend an unconfirmed UTXO to another address, it must receive at least 1 confirmation before it's spendable, most times you've to wait for more nodes to validate the block so it's safer to spend and it might take a little time and more confirmations would follow suit.

[philipma1957]

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5562781.0

This thread above shows how cheap payments may work or not work

The 0.11 sat tx is stuck

[PX-Z]

I guess that's the default way for them to show the incoming balance while waiting to be confirmed.

As for your question.

1. No, it might go through if network drops it or just like you said the sender reverse it by double spending.
2. No, but when you attempt to send unconfirmed parent transaction it will usually have a warning note that the input is not yet confirmed and will ask to proceed or not.

[promise444c5]

 1. Is spending an unconfirmed UTXO always unsafe?
 

Yes but the only reason why you, as a receiver, would want to spend an unconfirmed transaction is when it’s stuck because of a low fee and you need the funds to confirm quickly while being sent to another destination…In that case, you can use CPFP, as long as you already control the unconfirmed output.Otherwise, you can just wait for it to get confirmed or ask the sender to use RBF

[MusaMohamed]

If you are dealing with someone, always make sure to receive 1 confirmation or 3 confirmations before giving the product or service because unconfirmed transactions can be reversible to those who know how to do it.

With small value of a trade with someone, 1 confirmation on Bitcoin blockchain is enough as Bitcoin network was not have any 51% attack historically and the cost to do such attack is very hugely expensive while it does not bring profit to attackers.

With bigger value trades, waiting for 3 confirmations or more is recommended or people can split the payment of the trade to different transactions.
How many Bitcoin confirmations is enough?

What's the rule of thumb for an acceptable number of confirmations?

    1 confirmation: sufficient for small payments less than $1,000.
    3 confirmations: for payments $1,000 - $10,000. Most exchanges require 3 confirmations for deposits.
    6 confirmations: good for large payments between $10,000 - $1,000,000. Six is standard for most transactions to be considered secure.
    10 confirmations: suggested for large payments greater than $1,000,000.

[Aanuoluwatofunmi]

If you're using a wallet like electrum, then you will have something like this, as it is unconfirmed transactions and custodial wallet don't display this except the confirmed your transaction, another beauty in this is that you can spend from this unconfirmed transaction, more have been talked about this aspect on the forum before now and you may check on the technician board to learn more.

[FinneysTrueVision]

1. Is spending an unconfirmed UTXO always unsafe?

Spending the unconfirmed output with a higher fee will bump the effective fee rate, making it more likely that it will get confirmed. If someone is selling a product for a significant amount of Bitcoin, it is best to wait for a confirmation. For you, as the spender of the output, it is safe in the sense that you can’t lose any additional funds aside from the unconfirmed BTC if the original sender decides to replace their transaction with another one that pays a different recipient.

[Charles-Tim]

If the transaction remains unconfirmed in the mempool maybe because of inadequate fee, the sender can bump the fee and spend it back to his wallet. You can still use CPFP to increase the fee so it can be confirmed faster and spent to your wallet.

You can use RBF to reverse a coin in an unconfirmed transaction back to the address on your wallet. This can be done with a higher fee and the unconfirmed transaction will become invalid. But you can not use CPFP to reverse the transaction.

2. No, but when you attempt to send unconfirmed parent transaction it will usually have a warning note that the input is not yet confirmed and will ask to proceed or not.

It will depend on the wallet you are using. I have not noticed this before on Electrum.

[DubemIfedigbo001]

You cannot spend an unconfirmed UTXO to another address, it must receive at least 1 confirmation before it's spendable, most times you've to wait for more nodes to validate the block so it's safer to spend and it might take a little time and more confirmations would follow suit.

You can use RBF to reverse a coin in an unconfirmed transaction back to the address on your wallet. This can be done with a higher fee and the unconfirmed transaction will become invalid. But you can not use CPFP to reverse the transaction.

Firstly, this is a wrong quote bro, this isn't where I talked about RBF and CPFP.

Secondly, observe my usage of his and your in the sentence. When I used his, I meant the sender and when I used your, I'm referring to the receiver.

2. No, but when you attempt to send unconfirmed parent transaction it will usually have a warning note that the input is not yet confirmed and will ask to proceed or not.

It will depend on the wallet you are using. I have not noticed this before on Electrum.

Same with me, I've not seen too and I like the way electrum prevents you from spending it.

[hugeblack]

You can adjust your wallet settings to only show transactions that have received one confirmation (It is usually a different color, yellow or red, which has received confirmations in the color green)
If the transaction is between your addresses or someone you trust, you can accept the transaction with zero confirmations. Otherwise, any transaction that hasn't received at least one confirmation is not final.

[Karl_3000]

If you are dealing with someone, always make sure to receive 1 confirmation or 3 confirmations before giving the product or service because unconfirmed transactions can be reversible to those who know how to do it.

With small value of a trade with someone, 1 confirmation on Bitcoin blockchain is enough as Bitcoin network was not have any 51% attack historically and the cost to do such attack is very hugely expensive while it does not bring profit to attackers.

With bigger value trades, waiting for 3 confirmations or more is recommended or people can split the payment of the trade to different transactions.
How many Bitcoin confirmations is enough?

What's the rule of thumb for an acceptable number of confirmations?

    1 confirmation: sufficient for small payments less than $1,000.
    3 confirmations: for payments $1,000 - $10,000. Most exchanges require 3 confirmations for deposits.
    6 confirmations: good for large payments between $10,000 - $1,000,000. Six is standard for most transactions to be considered secure.
    10 confirmations: suggested for large payments greater than $1,000,000.

You can not compare a billionaire to someone that is not rich. That amount of money and number of confirmations before you should accept a transaction is just rubbish for me.

What if someone network is just $10000.

Accepting confirmation should not be like that, I think 2 confirmations is enough if you use high fee to send the coin.

[philipma1957]

that stuck transaction I sent to my self 30 plus days ago can be cancelled for a cheap fee.

the dange of an unspent send is the sender can pull it back.


So I pay you 1.00 btc and put a 0.11 per sat fee it gets stuck

you are new and send me what I purchased with the btc
 lets say 660,000 doge

I look at the doge wait for it to clear and then pay me little fee to cancel my btc send to you

you are defrauded 660,000 doge

[Wiwo]

Two things are involved one is that the transaction have few confirmation left to complete it 100%.

Another possibility may be mempool congestion although this is not as prevalent as the first reason.

When you send your transaction,  make sure that you check how many confirmation you need before fully successful transfer and avaliable of assets in the receiving wallets.

[joniboini]

You can not compare a billionaire to someone that is not rich. That amount of money and number of confirmations before you should accept a transaction is just rubbish for me.

I think merchants are the ones who have to deal with this anyway, not the average joe. That being said, I'd be really annoyed if I buy something and the merchant requires 10 confirmations or something before they send the products to me, especially if the value is not that high. OP hasn't replied yet, so it's unclear if he actually got scammed or his wallet failed to update his balance in real time. CMIIW.

[Obim34]

Is it correct that most non-custodial wallets broadcast the expected balance based on unconfirmed UTXOs, but the coins can still be reversed if the sender uses a higher-fee replacement (RBF)?

Yes, although RBF won't work if the transaction has gotten to 1 confirmation.

1. Is spending an unconfirmed UTXO always unsafe?

It is better to wait for confirmation, at least 1 confirmation before spending, like i said, when it gets up to 1 confirmation, there is no way for reversal.   

What if someone network is just $10000.

Accepting confirmation should not be like that, I think 2 confirmations is enough if you use high fee to send the coin.

I was surprised to see such dialogue, a transaction paid with a normal fee is going to get its 1 confirmation under few minutes, it is not a big deal to wait that little time, first confirmation is all is needed to know the transaction remains valid.

[Ivystar5]

1. Is spending an unconfirmed UTXO always unsafe?

Its very unhealthy to spend unconfirmed transactions, if you sell a product or provide a service you will Keep running into loss every time if you keep spending unconfirmed transactions.

Imagine giving out goods when you haven't confirmed and RBF is done, you will loss twice, but however if 1 or more confirmations it's not going to be RBF possible anymore from what I know but I could still be wrong but however making sure you have confirmations before trying to spend the tx is very necessary.

[Charles-Tim]

Imagine giving out goods when you haven't confirmed and RBF is done, you will loss twice, but however if 1 or more confirmations it's not going to be RBF possible anymore from what I know but I could still be wrong but however making sure you have confirmations before trying to spend the tx is very necessary.

If a transaction has 1 confirmation, the transaction can not double spent, but there is possibility of chain reorg in a way that the transaction that has the confirmation will later be in mempool again and which have chances to be doble spent. The chance this can happen is very low but it is very possible. The more the confirmation, the lesser this can happen. That is the reason more confirmations is advised before accepting the transaction.