Bitcoin Payments: How Many Confirmations Are Really Necessary?

[moneystery]

1. How many confirmations do you personally consider sufficient?
2. Would you accept zero-confirmation Bitcoin payments?

It's better to wait until 2 confirmations have been received before you can confirm the payment. 0 confirmations is only so risky because you need at least 1 confirmation before the transaction is recorded.

3. Should exchanges use different confirmation requirements depending on transaction value?

Exchanges don't need to use a higher number of confirmations. 2 confirmations is sufficient for them because their internal systems can detect incoming transactions to their deposit addresses and record them internally. Only until the number of confirmations exceeds the number of confirmations can they complete the transaction and allow users to withdraw their funds. As far as I know, if the number of confirmations isn't sufficient, you can only use it internally on the exchange and not withdraw it.

4. Do you believe Lightning is a practical solution for everyday Bitcoin payments?

The Bitcoin Lightning network isn't yet a viable solution for daily payments, as it still has several weaknesses and isn't practical. I prefer using other methods or cash for daily payments.

[slaman29]

From my experience with Bitcoin transactions, I have noticed that some many exchanges and casino's does not allow transaction such as withdrawal and deposit with just one confirmation, upon the second confirmation that is when some allow for transaction while some still do not allow such but I think first confirmation is likely risky though because some Bitcoin app do have cancel option which likely means that the first confirmation is not as stable and reliable to guarantee a successful deposit or withdrawal.

To undo 1 confirmation you need to be some crazy entity with a lot of hashrate.

If that is the case then it means it would be very difficult to be able to infiltrate a transaction at first confirmation but why does exchange and casino do not allow transaction with just 1 confirmation if it takes some crazy entity with a high tech skills to be able to bypass protocols at just 1 confirmation? It is only at 2 or above confirmations that deposits fully reflects in the wallet address.

They just don't want the risk no matter how small of not actually having the coins before crediting, which makes sense. So you don't steal their money. It used to be a reasonable risk back in the day but now it is not. Casinos and exchanges are not the best at understanding Bitcoin and 51% attacks.

Its not just about high tech skills, its actually about owning a LOT of hashrate. That means a hell lot of money.

However, for casinos as pointed out by other posts, you can easily fix this by only allowing a withdrawal AFTER your deposit confirms. At least for smaller amounts they should allow it. 0 confirmations and letting the player gamble doesn't harm you, because if they want to withdraw, the deposit has to confirm.