Bitcoin transaction not confirmed

[jalmari]

I tried to send 0.1 BTC from multibit wallet to another one, but it does not have confirmations! Is there anything I can do or is it lost?

https://blockchain.info/tx/434916be38430ad75185bb1d055c585d40a9f5d4bcae1af8fb27a4575a74092c

[BTCLotto]

It's not lost, just have to wait, for some reason it's flagged as low priority so will take longer to confirm, could be a day or two I think.

[Light]

The size of your inputs were far higher than your fee warranted. You need at least 0.0001 per kB under the prior system (newest implementation has not been fully adopted yet) while you only have 0.0001 for 10kB. Your bitcoins are not lost - they should confirm eventually (may take some days). If not you'll have to wait for the nodes and miners to forget it and rebroadcast a new tx with a bigger fee.

[jalmari]

The size of your inputs were far higher than your fee warranted. You need at least 0.0001 per kB under the prior system (newest implementation has not been fully adopted yet) while you only have 0.0001 for 10kB. Your bitcoins are not lost - they should confirm eventually (may take some days). If not you'll have to wait for the nodes and miners to forget it and rebroadcast a new tx with a bigger fee.

Ah, ok, this is new to me! If they dont confirm it, how long does it take that the nodes forget it? Do I have to do something?

Btw, I even tried to reset the "blockchain and Transactions" and now my sending wallet does not even show the transaction at all. Is this something I should be worried about?

As I said I am using Multibit-client.

[Light]

It depends on how often your client rebroadcasts the tx. I'm not familiar with how often Multibit does so but I'll see if I can find it. Your tx should confirm eventually - if it doesn't; just treat it the same as a 0 fee tx and follow this guide (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=231309.0). I wouldn't do so immediately as there is a chance it'll go through by itself but if after a week you don't have any confirms you might wan to look into it.

[DannyHamilton]

The transaction has an output of 304 satoshi (0.00000304 BTC).  This makes the transaction "non-standard".  As such it is very unlikely to confirm any time soon.

Furthermore, this transaction has a lot of "dust" inputs. Any input that is too small becomes unspendable due to the required transaction fee.  As such, you'll find it nearly impossible to spend most of the value from this wallet until the exchange rate grows significantly and the transaction fee is reduced.

Example:

If the required fee is 100 microbitcoin (0.00010000 BTC) per kilobyte, and you have many inputs that are each less than 20 microbitcoin (0.00002000 BTC), then those inputs are essentially unspendable.

The average size of an input is a bit more than 180 bytes.  This means that (when you consider the sizes of some of the other information in the transaction) you will reach 1 kilobyte in size with about 5 inputs.  Therefore, every 5 inputs will require an additional 100 microbitcoin in fees.  Since the 5 inputs you have already included will be less than 100 microbitcoin, the transaction won't have enough value in it to pay the fees.  If you add more inputs to increase the value of the transaction, you also increase the size, which requires more fees.  By the time you've included 10 inputs that are all less than 20 microbitcoin in value you need to pay 200 microbitcoin in fees, but have less than 200 microbitcoin in value in the transaction to pay the fees with.  The more inputs you add to the transaction to cover the fees, the larger the transaction grows, and the higher the fees are.

Generally when a wallet is filled with small value inputs like that, it's because the user got them from a variety of "free bitcoin faucets".  These services knowingly pay users amounts that are too small to be spent.  Meanwhile they collect much larger fees from advertisers.  This generates a significant revenue for them while they fill your wallet with unspendable dust that makes your wallet essentially unusable.  By the time their user's discover the problem, they've already made a significant income from selling the user's eyeballs to advertisers.  They prey on uninformed newbies who are hoping to get "free money!".

TANSTAAFL!

[alexrossi]

You have made a supa combo of the worst things to put in a tx: lot of satoshis inputs and a too low fee

[jalmari]

So, what can I do? I also have other coins in my wallet than those from the faucets. I dont even use faucets anymore.
I would not like to loose them!

[jalmari]

The transaction has an output of 304 satoshi (0.00000304 BTC).  This makes the transaction "non-standard".  As such it is very unlikely to confirm any time soon.

Furthermore, this transaction has a lot of "dust" inputs. Any input that is too small becomes unspendable due to the required transaction fee.  As such, you'll find it nearly impossible to spend most of the value from this wallet until the exchange rate grows significantly and the transaction fee is reduced.

Example:

If the required fee is 100 microbitcoin (0.00010000 BTC) per kilobyte, and you have many inputs that are each less than 20 microbitcoin (0.00002000 BTC), then those inputs are essentially unspendable.

The average size of an input is a bit more than 180 bytes.  This means that (when you consider the sizes of some of the other information in the transaction) you will reach 1 kilobyte in size with about 5 inputs.  Therefore, every 5 inputs will require an additional 100 microbitcoin in fees.  Since the 5 inputs you have already included will be less than 100 microbitcoin, the transaction won't have enough value in it to pay the fees.  If you add more inputs to increase the value of the transaction, you also increase the size, which requires more fees.  By the time you've included 10 inputs that are all less than 20 microbitcoin in value you need to pay 200 microbitcoin in fees, but have less than 200 microbitcoin in value in the transaction to pay the fees with.  The more inputs you add to the transaction to cover the fees, the larger the transaction grows, and the higher the fees are.

Generally when a wallet is filled with small value inputs like that, it's because the user got them from a variety of "free bitcoin faucets".  These services knowingly pay users amounts that are too small to be spent.  Meanwhile they collect much larger fees from advertisers.  This generates a significant revenue for them while they fill your wallet with unspendable dust that makes your wallet essentially unusable.  By the time their user's discover the problem, they've already made a significant income from selling the user's eyeballs to advertisers.  They prey on uninformed newbies who are hoping to get "free money!".

TANSTAAFL!

Actually the transaction has an output of 0.1BTC not 304 sat

[alexrossi]

So, what can I do? I also have other coins in my wallet than those from the faucets. I dont even use faucets anymore.
I would not like to loose them!

You can only wait

[DannyHamilton]

So, what can I do? I also have other coins in my wallet than those from the faucets. I dont even use faucets anymore.
I would not like to loose them!

You'll need to import the private keys into a wallet that has coin control. Then you'll need to carefully create transactions that only spend the non-dust inputs and send that usable balance to another wallet.

Finally, keep a backup copy of the wallet that has only dust inputs remaining. As the exchange rate increases over time, the required transaction fee might decrease.  If this happens, then some of that dust might become spendable in the future.

[alexrossi]

So, what can I do? I also have other coins in my wallet than those from the faucets. I dont even use faucets anymore.
I would not like to loose them!

You'll need to import the private keys into a wallet that has coin control. Then you'll need to carefully create transactions that only spend the non-dust inputs and send that usable balance to another wallet.

Finally, keep a backup copy of the wallet that has only dust inputs remaining. As the exchange rate increases over time, the required transaction fee might decrease.  If this happens, then some of that dust might become spendable in the future.

But first he need to wait that nodes forget his transaction, correct?

[jalmari]

So, what can I do? I also have other coins in my wallet than those from the faucets. I dont even use faucets anymore.
I would not like to loose them!

You'll need to import the private keys into a wallet that has coin control. Then you'll need to carefully create transactions that only spend the non-dust inputs and send that usable balance to another wallet.

Finally, keep a backup copy of the wallet that has only dust inputs remaining. As the exchange rate increases over time, the required transaction fee might decrease.  If this happens, then some of that dust might become spendable in the future.

Ok, could you recommend a good wallet to me and if possible something which doesn't maintain the whole block chain as I cannot keep my machine up and running.

[DannyHamilton]

Actually the transaction has an output of 0.1BTC not 304 sat

Look again:
https://blockchain.info/tx/434916be38430ad75185bb1d055c585d40a9f5d4bcae1af8fb27a4575a74092c

This transaction has a total of 0.10010304 in inputs.

It pays a transaction fee of 0.0001 BTC, leaving 0.10000304 in value to be assigned to outputs.

One output sends 0.1 BTC to 16Us9WyuEVp5ZNdsugn29r5te7BpMEfNbF

The other output sends 0.00000304 BTC (3.04 microbitcoin) to 19QBr4fRiyyM3zeHezJoNAjon3kvjywz9H

This 3.04 microbitcoin output is most likely "change" from the transaction being sent back into your wallet.  Due to the way bitcoin works though, "change" outputs are treated like any other output.

[DannyHamilton]

So, what can I do? I also have other coins in my wallet than those from the faucets. I dont even use faucets anymore.
I would not like to loose them!

You'll need to import the private keys into a wallet that has coin control. Then you'll need to carefully create transactions that only spend the non-dust inputs and send that usable balance to another wallet.

Finally, keep a backup copy of the wallet that has only dust inputs remaining. As the exchange rate increases over time, the required transaction fee might decrease.  If this happens, then some of that dust might become spendable in the future.

But first he need to wait that nodes forget his transaction, correct?

Correct.  That is likely to take a few days.  A few days is a good amount of time to learn how to install, and use, a wallet with coin control.

[DannyHamilton]

So, what can I do? I also have other coins in my wallet than those from the faucets. I dont even use faucets anymore.
I would not like to loose them!

You'll need to import the private keys into a wallet that has coin control. Then you'll need to carefully create transactions that only spend the non-dust inputs and send that usable balance to another wallet.

Finally, keep a backup copy of the wallet that has only dust inputs remaining. As the exchange rate increases over time, the required transaction fee might decrease.  If this happens, then some of that dust might become spendable in the future.

Ok, could you recommend a good wallet to me and if possible something which doesn't maintain the whole block chain as I cannot keep my machine up and running.

The only wallets that I know provide coin control also require the entire blockchain.  There may be some that I'm unaware of.  Perhaps someone else will stop by and be able to tell you about a wallet that has coin control and that doesn't require the blockchain.

[jalmari]

So, what can I do? I also have other coins in my wallet than those from the faucets. I dont even use faucets anymore.
I would not like to loose them!

You'll need to import the private keys into a wallet that has coin control. Then you'll need to carefully create transactions that only spend the non-dust inputs and send that usable balance to another wallet.

Finally, keep a backup copy of the wallet that has only dust inputs remaining. As the exchange rate increases over time, the required transaction fee might decrease.  If this happens, then some of that dust might become spendable in the future.

But first he need to wait that nodes forget his transaction, correct?

Correct.  That is likely to take a few days.  A few days is a good amount of time to learn how to install, and use, a wallet with coin control.

How will I notice that the nodes have forgotten my transaction? The coins come back to my multibit?

[alexrossi]

So, what can I do? I also have other coins in my wallet than those from the faucets. I dont even use faucets anymore.
I would not like to loose them!

You'll need to import the private keys into a wallet that has coin control. Then you'll need to carefully create transactions that only spend the non-dust inputs and send that usable balance to another wallet.

Finally, keep a backup copy of the wallet that has only dust inputs remaining. As the exchange rate increases over time, the required transaction fee might decrease.  If this happens, then some of that dust might become spendable in the future.

Ok, could you recommend a good wallet to me and if possible something which doesn't maintain the whole block chain as I cannot keep my machine up and running.

The only wallets that I know provide coin control also require the entire blockchain.  There may be some that I'm unaware of.  Perhaps someone else will stop by and be able to tell you about a wallet that has coin control and that doesn't require the blockchain.

Maybe electrum

[DannyHamilton]

So, what can I do? I also have other coins in my wallet than those from the faucets. I dont even use faucets anymore.
I would not like to loose them!

You'll need to import the private keys into a wallet that has coin control. Then you'll need to carefully create transactions that only spend the non-dust inputs and send that usable balance to another wallet.

Finally, keep a backup copy of the wallet that has only dust inputs remaining. As the exchange rate increases over time, the required transaction fee might decrease.  If this happens, then some of that dust might become spendable in the future.

But first he need to wait that nodes forget his transaction, correct?

Correct.  That is likely to take a few days.  A few days is a good amount of time to learn how to install, and use, a wallet with coin control.

How will I notice that the nodes have forgotten my transaction? The coins come back to my multibit?

Nope.  There is no way to know for certain when a peer has dropped a transaction from their memory.  The best you can do is wait a few days (maybe 4 or so?), and then try to send a new transaction that spends the non-dust inputs.  If the new transaction is relayed throughout the network, then enough peers have probably dropped the old transaction.  If the new transaction is not relayed throughout the network, then too many peers probably still remember the old transaction.

[DannyHamilton]

The only wallets that I know provide coin control also require the entire blockchain.  There may be some that I'm unaware of.  Perhaps someone else will stop by and be able to tell you about a wallet that has coin control and that doesn't require the blockchain.

Maybe electrum

As far as I know, Electrum does not provide coin control.

For true coin control, you have to be able to select the specific inputs that you wish to spend.  Electrum only lets you choose which address the inputs were received at.  It then chooses for itself which of those inputs to spend. Since his wallet has both dust amounts and non-dust amounts received at the same address, he needs actual coin control to separate them.