Glossary · payments and processing
What is a confirmation?
A confirmation is one block added to a blockchain after the block containing your transaction. Each one makes the transaction harder to undo, which is why providers wait for a set number before treating a payment as final.
Why anyone waits at all
A transaction appears on the network almost immediately, but the very newest block can in principle be replaced. Waiting for further blocks makes that progressively impractical, and after a few it stops being a real risk.
How many is enough depends on the network. A fast network with cheap blocks needs more of them to reach the same certainty as a slow network with expensive ones, so a single number across all assets would be either wasteful or unsafe.
For a merchant the practical effect is a short wait between the shopper sending and the order being safe to fulfil. It is the crypto equivalent of the gap between authorisation and settlement, and it is usually much shorter.
What it means for your checkout
Three things worth designing around rather than hoping about.
Fulfil on confirmation, not on sending
A pending transaction is not a paid order. Use the status field rather than the shopper telling you they sent it.
Frequently asked questions
How many confirmations does CoinGate wait for?
It depends on the asset and network, because the right number is a property of the network rather than a policy. The order status tells you when the wait is over.
Can a confirmed payment be reversed?
No. That is the point of waiting. Why there are no chargebacks
What if the shopper says they paid and the order is still pending?
Look up the transaction hash on a block explorer. Either it has not confirmed yet, or it went somewhere else.