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There are now more than 200k pending Bitcoin transactions

blockchain.info

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Re: There are now more than 200k pending Bitcoin transactions

#11

Post by hanbura »

rankam wrote: post #8

How does this impact buy/sell orders? If I place a buy order at t = 0 where btc = 10, but the order isn't processed until t + 3hours where btc = 15, do I pay 10 or 15?

At most (all?) exchanges you trade with currency that's already deposited at the exchange. So you can only create a buy/sell order if you gave them the coins to fulfill the order instantly.

The current situation makes arbitrage less effective and slows down trade because it's more expensive to move bitcoins to an exchange though

Re: There are now more than 200k pending Bitcoin transactions

#12

Post by gomox »

rankam wrote: post #8

How does this impact buy/sell orders? If I place a buy order at t = 0 where btc = 10, but the order isn't processed until t + 3hours where btc = 15, do I pay 10 or 15?

Exchanges (where trades like the one you describe happen) operate outside of the blockchain. You only transact with them on the blockchain when depositing or withdrawing money from the exchange.

Re: There are now more than 200k pending Bitcoin transactions

#14

Post by viraptor »

westurner wrote: post #9
loopdoend wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The bitcoin network's theoretical maximum capacity sits between 3.3 to 7 transactions per second." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin_scalability_problem

The OT link does say "Transactions Per Second 22.54". The solutions for this 3 hour backlog of unconfirmed transactions include: implementing SegWit, increasing the blocksize, and Lightning Network.

I think the link counts incoming transactions. I.e. you can always schedule more, but it doesn't mean they're going to be acted on in a reasonable timeframe.

Re: There are now more than 200k pending Bitcoin transactions

#15

Post by 45h34jh53k4j »

This is referring to the minimum cost in fees for a transaction to get copied from the mempool to a block. Only when a transaction is in a block is it a valid transfer of bitcoin. Its nothing to do with trading or exchange rates or energy costs or fiat.

Bitcoin is working exactly the same as it has always, however now because of the backlog, transaction fees are very high. In the order of Western Union + Visa Fees + Bank Wire fees all at the same time!

I made a very small transaction for a friend a week ago (~$50) and paid $2 USD in fees. That is not enough and the transaction will sit waiting until the backlog decreases, it may never clear.

Bitcoin is kind of broken right now.

Re: There are now more than 200k pending Bitcoin transactions

#17

Post by rankam »

gomox wrote: post #12
rankam wrote: post #8

How does this impact buy/sell orders? If I place a buy order at t = 0 where btc = 10, but the order isn't processed until t + 3hours where btc = 15, do I pay 10 or 15?

Exchanges (where trades like the one you describe happen) operate outside of the blockchain. You only transact with them on the blockchain when depositing or withdrawing money from the exchange.

Thanks, and just so I understand correctly, these pending orders are waiting within the blockchain to be executed, similar(ish) to a task queue?

Re: There are now more than 200k pending Bitcoin transactions

#19

Post by gomox »

rankam wrote: post #17
gomox wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exchanges (where trades like the one you describe happen) operate outside of the blockchain. You only transact with them on the blockchain when depositing or withdrawing money from the exchange.

Thanks, and just so I understand correctly, these pending orders are waiting within the blockchain to be executed, similar(ish) to a task queue?

Yes. They are waiting to be picked up by a miner, based on the fee that the transaction has paid to be included in the blockchain. You can still make a quick (by BTC standards) transaction in these scenarios, it's just more expensive to do so. Right now, a regular simple transaction would have to pay USD 22 to be included in the next block (i.e. within 10 minutes).

Here's the reference website for BTC blockchain backlog. It allows you to understand what a good fee is at a given time.

https://bitcoinfees.earn.com/

Re: There are now more than 200k pending Bitcoin transactions

#20

Post by blunte »

etqwzutewzu wrote: post #16

If bitcoin is becoming even more successful (in the sense of high transactions number) and if blocksize remains at ~1 MB, what will be the impact on fees? And could we imagine unsustainable fees?

The utility of bitcoin depends on your perspective. As a means of value exchange, high fees make it less useful. But as a store of value, high fees matter little.
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