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Why is my transaction pending?
Why is my transaction pending?

Blockchain transactions are pending until they are confirmed on the blockchain. Learn more about why your transaction is pending.

Updated over a week ago

Why are my transactions pending? Understand why we sometimes label your incoming Bitcoin or blockchain transactions as Pending in your wallet.

If you need a self-custody crypto wallet to send and receive transactions, you can download Exodus.


In this article:


What does pending mean?

Typically, incoming blockchain transactions appear in your account within a minute after they are broadcast but will be tagged as Pending until there has been at least one network confirmation.

The time it takes a blockchain transaction to be confirmed depends on the fee used by the sender and the overall network traffic. It can also depend on the asset.

Once a transaction is verified on the network, the pending tag will be removed. This lets you know the transaction cannot be reversed and the funds can be sent.


What is happening with a pending blockchain transaction?

First, your transaction is broadcast to the blockchain network by your wallet. Next, it is confirmed or included in a block by the network's miners or validators.

Occasionally, transactions are not accepted by the network for several reasons. These transactions remain marked as Pending. Pending transactions are usually caused by four main reasons:

  • Receiving a transaction with insufficient fees
    All transactions require a miner fee to be confirmed by the asset network. If the sender did not use a sufficient fee, your deposit might never confirm.

  • Spending unconfirmed assets
    If you are trying to send assets that appear as pending in your account, your transaction will also remain in a pending state until your deposits are confirmed. You can think of this as a waterfall effect. Until the funds you receive are properly confirmed, all of your sent funds will be marked with this same pending state.

  • The network is experiencing a high volume
    Sometimes there is a high volume of digital currency being sent globally, and there are more transactions than there is space available in each new block to include the transaction.

  • Slow block times
    Due to the nature of how blocks are confirmed, there can be times when blocks are confirmed slower than usual, resulting in prolonged block times. This is particularly true for Bitcoin, which has an estimated block confirmation time of 10 minutes but can occasionally be as high as 40+ minutes, due to variability in mining difficulty.

    To learn more about how blocks are confirmed on different networks, please see our article: How do consensus mechanisms like proof-of-work (PoW) and proof-of-stake (PoS) work?

Transactions that do not get confirmed by the network are usually dropped and returned to the sender. If you have a dropped transaction in your wallet that continues to show as pending, you can often manually remove this by refreshing your wallet. A refresh updates your wallet to the latest information from the network.


How long will I wait for a pending transaction to confirm?

Asset

Typical time pending

Bitcoin

60 minutes or less

Monero

20 minutes or less

Dash

15 minutes or less

BNB

5 minutes or less

Ethereum

5 minutes or less

Cardano

5 minutes or less

Solana

5 minutes or less


What can I do if a transaction sent from another wallet to Exodus is pending?

If you're waiting to receive a transaction and it's been pending for a long time, there are a few things you can do.

One reason for a pending or delayed transaction is a low network transaction fee.

In this case, you can contact the sender and ask them to accelerate the transaction. This will allow the sender to increase the transaction fee and prioritize the transaction to be included in the next block.

Keep in mind that not all wallets or assets support accelerating transactions, so it may not be possible for the sender to accelerate your transaction.

Another reason for a pending transaction is network congestion. Sometimes, a block may take a long time to be confirmed. In this situation, the only thing to do is wait.

You can identify this case by viewing your transaction on a block explorer: How do I find transaction information on a block explorer?

If your deposit is coming from a centralized exchange, there may be other reasons for a delay. The exchange may need some time to process the transaction on their end. Alternatively, the sender may have missed a step, like confirming an email.

A possible solution is to reach out to the sending party. If you sent the transaction yourself, you can reach out to the exchange to get a timeframe for when your transaction will be completed.


What does an incoming pending transaction look like?

Mobile

On Mobile, pending transactions will a) show as Receiving in the transaction details, and b) you will see a small green dot next to the asset logo. In the example below, you can see an incoming Bitcoin transaction that is pending.


Desktop

On Desktop, pending transactions will a) have a Pending tag in the transaction details, and b) you will see a small green dot next to the asset logo.


Web3 Wallet

On Web3 Wallet, pending transactions will a) show as Receiving in the transaction details, and b) you will see a small green dot next to the asset logo.


What can I do if a transaction sent from Exodus is pending?

If a transaction you sent from your Exodus wallet has been pending for a long time, you might have the option to accelerate your transaction by paying a little more crypto as a transaction fee.

Your Exodus wallet calculates an optimal network transaction fee when you send a transaction. However, if there is a sudden spike in network congestion, or if you set a custom fee that is too low, it's possible for your transaction to get stuck.

In Exodus, If your Bitcoin is pending, you can accelerate pending Bitcoin transactions by paying a little more BTC: What should I do if my Bitcoin transaction is stuck?

You can also accelerate Ethereum (ETH) and other ERC20 token transactions by paying a little more ETH: What should I do if my Ethereum or ERC20 transaction is stuck?

Another reason for a delay can be network congestion, which can cause a block to take longer to confirm. In this situation, the only thing you can do is wait.

Lastly, if you are sending a transaction to a centralized exchange, it may require a specific number of confirmations before the exchange will display your crypto.

If you see that your transaction has been confirmed on the blockchain, but your balance is not updated on the exchange, you can reach out to their support team.


What does an outgoing pending transaction look like?

Mobile

On Mobile, pending transactions will show as Sending in the transaction details. In the example below, you can see an outgoing Bitcoin transaction that is pending.


Desktop

On Desktop, pending transactions will have a Pending tag in the transaction details.


Web3 Wallet

On Web3 Wallet, pending transactions will show as Sending in the transaction details.

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