No matter how much we love BTC, confirmations take way too long!

[Harlot]

It's not that bad Bitcoin transactions are tolerable for people who actually is not waiting for it to come. But it can be a big concern for businesses who actually is in need for that money instantly or sometging what credit cards do in which the banks gives an assurance they they will get paid for what the customers bought.  Right now Bitcoin transactions is not yet into the hearts of businessmen to be part of their daily businesses.

[susila_bai]

Not an original topic, but there is a reason why it keeps coming up.
No matter how much we love BTC, confirmations take way too long!

<Insert standard response>
"Transactions are instant, and full confirmation is usually done in under 1 hour... both of which are better than credit cards."

<Reality check>
Merchants complete your sale 'almost instantly' with credit cards, and sometimes make you wait almost an hour when paying with BTC, which really does not work well in the real world....  better point of sale options are needed ASAP.

Ya it is true that due to confirmation delay bitcoin is getting some negative points when dealing with merchant transaction as if the buyer sends the bitcoins with low fees, then the transaction takes more then 24 hrs time and their are chances of the transaction getting cancelled also, So still their is lot of time for bitcoin to get accepted by merchants. Right now it is good for investment and gambling type uses only.

[roadbits]

Not an original topic, but there is a reason why it keeps coming up.
No matter how much we love BTC, confirmations take way too long!

<Insert standard response>
"Transactions are instant, and full confirmation is usually done in under 1 hour... both of which are better than credit cards."

<Reality check>
Merchants complete your sale 'almost instantly' with credit cards, and sometimes make you wait almost an hour when paying with BTC, which really does not work well in the real world....  better point of sale options are needed ASAP.

Ya it is true that due to confirmation delay bitcoin is getting some negative points when dealing with merchant transaction as if the buyer sends the bitcoins with low fees, then the transaction takes more then 24 hrs time and their are chances of the transaction getting cancelled also, So still their is lot of time for bitcoin to get accepted by merchants. Right now it is good for investment and gambling type uses only.

This is the major disadvantage in Bitcoin, If it gets solved, then I think all merchants will accept Bitcoin, and it will become more popular in the real world. Now in the real world, many people still don't know what Bitcoin that is why they are not improving Bitcoin is. Once everyone started to addict to this bitcoin then automatically they will improve and solve this issue. But I think it will take many years to fix this problem.

[The One]

It IS relevant when you have only 2 blocks created in 40 minutes (like right now) and a merchant that requires at least 3 or 4 confirmations.

Depends on the merchants. Online merchants don't need to worry as any deliveries are not sent out instantly. It's normally sent out after 12 hours. Thus if payment fails to go through then merchants will not honour the purchase.

[tiger5056]

If crypto can not make transaction faster than credit card then eventually fail. also should consider usability of wallet. we need at least mobile wallet fast and secure without scam.

[johnwest]

If crypto can not make transaction faster than credit card then eventually fail. also should consider usability of wallet. we need at least mobile wallet fast and secure without scam.

It will eventually fail if we wont find a solution for the slower confirmations in transactions and fees while sending Bitcoins. People come to Bitcoins in search of minimizing both of them and both got a massive hit right now.

[bitkilo]

If crypto can not make transaction faster than credit card then eventually fail. also should consider usability of wallet. we need at least mobile wallet fast and secure without scam.

People have to stop comparing bitcoin with fiat money and credit/debit card payments. Credit card payment will always be quicker because it is a debt based set up, once you swipe that card you then owe the money to the bank.
Bitcoin is different because nobody ever owes you and you don't owe anybody else, once the payment has been sent then it's final, no chargebacks to worry about and less likely or close to impossible to be a fraudulent transaction.

[virasog]

If crypto can not make transaction faster than credit card then eventually fail. also should consider usability of wallet. we need at least mobile wallet fast and secure without scam.

You know , now we are struggling with slower transaction confirmation due to massive transaction every now and then it just means that we are now populating to compare to cards around you know cards is one tap to machines can easily get money or fiat. I guess we should stop comparing it since it has different features.

[AngryDwarf]

If crypto can not make transaction faster than credit card then eventually fail. also should consider usability of wallet. we need at least mobile wallet fast and secure without scam.

People have to stop comparing bitcoin with fiat money and credit/debit card payments. Credit card payment will always be quicker because it is a debt based set up, once you swipe that card you then owe the money to the bank.
Bitcoin is different because nobody ever owes you and you don't owe anybody else, once the payment has been sent then it's final, no chargebacks to worry about and less likely or close to impossible to be a fraudulent transaction.

Actually, if blockchains are allowed not allowed to be full for an extended length of time and transaction pools are not allowed to forget transactions and all transactions are eventually confimed, we have instant payments with zero confirmations although they carry a level of economic risk. This risk can be reduced further with a simple double spending proof:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=423.msg3819#msg3819

https://bitcoinclassic.com/devel/Double%20Spend%20Proofs.html

Even a transaction that has 1 confirmation on it is not without economic risk. It could be undone by a chain re-organisation if a longer chain emerges. Most transactions are considered safe after 6 confirms, as the chain re-organisation risk at this level is considered extremely unlikely.

The Ferrari dealership might want 100 confirms like a newly minted block before they give you the keys to the car you just bought. Joe Sixpack, landlord of the local pub, would probably be happy accepting a zero confirmation payment because since he will just bar you if you try to rip him off. The latter scenario would probably be better served by an lightning network if you are on a big piss up for the night, as long as you can afford to move your funds into an on chain account to open the channel.

[OliynyK]

If crypto can not make transaction faster than credit card then eventually fail. also should consider usability of wallet. we need at least mobile wallet fast and secure without scam.

I am really surprised to see that the issue was posted by 2014 and i am not sure what made those things smooth and what upgrades were made to counter that ,i thought this was the first time we are encountering the block size issue and guess that is the reason for the delay in confirmation .
There are some safe mobile wallet which is endorsed by the bitcoin team .

[AngryDwarf]

If crypto can not make transaction faster than credit card then eventually fail. also should consider usability of wallet. we need at least mobile wallet fast and secure without scam.

I am really surprised to see that the issue was posted by 2014 and i am not sure what made those things smooth and what upgrades were made to counter that ,i thought this was the first time we are encountering the block size issue and guess that is the reason for the delay in confirmation .
There are some safe mobile wallet which is endorsed by the bitcoin team .

Previously, pools used to implement a soft cap on the blocksize limit, and would increase periodically with demand until it hit the 1MB cap. The problem with this, is that it is just not dynamic enough to cope with burst of high level demand. I believe miners should create more dynamically sized blocks based on any backlog that occurs in the transaction pool.
And you want an SPV wallet for your mobile phone, one where you can move funds on-chain into it without paying astronomical fees for the privilege.

[mace15]

This is true, no matter how much we used bitcoin everyday the problem is too long to confirmed the transactions. Ive been experiencing this kind of problem but I know it will solved in the long run.

[Soul Reaper]

I totally agree with your freakin point of argument.
I mean this is one of the biggest loop hole of using bitcoins.
You can't directly pay via bitcoins for an instantaneous transaction.
I mean just think you buy a coffee at Starbucks and you don't have any case,
You were going to pay via bitcoins and your transaction is not confirmed.
You will have to struggle for a long time.
Also the fact that even if these transactions are slow the famous and trusted wallets like block chain still charge a lot of transaction fees.

[shield132]

From current situation, my thought has changed and I conclused that bitcoin isn't good for low amount transactions because confirmations are very slow and fees are very higher. But for big amount of money, bitcoin is great because there is no limitation and fees are low for that eve with current situation.
If I amn't wrong there was planned fork and let's see what will happen, maybe fees and confirmations will become lower.

[TrumpD]

It is actually very fast. Circa ten mins to a few hours, depending on the circumstances.

You just think it's slow because of credit cards, and how you assume the transactions go through right away. But in reality for the consumer and business it takes many days, and sometimes months for the business to get the money from the credit card company.

[jorneyflair]

Not an original topic, but there is a reason why it keeps coming up.
No matter how much we love BTC, confirmations take way too long!

<Insert standard response>
"Transactions are instant, and full confirmation is usually done in under 1 hour... both of which are better than credit cards."

<Reality check>
Merchants complete your sale 'almost instantly' with credit cards, and sometimes make you wait almost an hour when paying with BTC, which really does not work well in the real world....  better point of sale options are needed ASAP.

Ya it is true that due to confirmation delay bitcoin is getting some negative points when dealing with merchant transaction as if the buyer sends the bitcoins with low fees, then the transaction takes more then 24 hrs time and their are chances of the transaction getting cancelled also, So still their is lot of time for bitcoin to get accepted by merchants. Right now it is good for investment and gambling type uses only.

From my perspective, transactions take slightly too long: in my opinion 5-10 minutes faster would be enough, bitcoin is mostly used for bigger transactions, not transfers like 10-15$ so it is obvious you need to wait some time for cash.
I also would like to remind you, that task of sending money takes around 1-2 days at banking system: bitcoin is much faster.

Im afraid that confirmations will still take some time, because you need to remember the current amount of blockchain users- and imagine even more people, because we can see that our bitcoin community is constantly growing, we have newbies here all the time.
So 50 minutes isn't so much for confirmations, however i need to agree that it sucks when someone pays at the shop.

[Supercrypt]

It's not that bad Bitcoin transactions are tolerable for people who actually is not waiting for it to come. But it can be a big concern for businesses who actually is in need for that money instantly or sometging what credit cards do in which the banks gives an assurance they they will get paid for what the customers bought.  Right now Bitcoin transactions is not yet into the hearts of businessmen to be part of their daily businesses.

But I think the OP has a point there. I have always heard that confirmations are fast but in reality, I agree it takes a long time. With my Coinbase account I have done more than three transactions where it took over an hour to get more than 2 confirmations. But it is not a matter of not having the money right a way but more about fraud because without confirmations the transaction basically did not occur. There is potential for fraud.

[Dart18]

Yes and it is getting nasty paying way too much. Thought I could at least save money in using it but there is the problem of paying expensively and waiting for too long. Western Union will win against bitcoin if this continues.

[FlamingFingers]

Yes and it is getting nasty paying way too much. Thought I could at least save money in using it but there is the problem of paying expensively and waiting for too long. Western Union will win against bitcoin if this continues.

What you have said above is true, bitcoin can be annoying depending on the circumstances. But Western Union is not that good either – it charges more for the transactions, especially if you are the sender; they have a disclaimer that makes the company liable if the recipient fails to get the goods or get them in bad shape; it's also a very good way for scammers to get funded since an identification card and a custom transaction is all that's necessary for one to claim  money.

[sweeeter]

I will always love Bitcoin regardless of transaction times. We will all learn that Bitcoin is not an everyday currency but is prefect for saving.