Blockchain Confirmations Explained: Why Your Deposit Says “Pending”

Your exchange says "Completed". The app you're selling to says "Pending". It's tempting to decide one of them is lying.

Usually, both are telling the truth. "Completed" on the sending side means the exchange has sent your transaction to the blockchain. "Pending" on the receiving side means the app is waiting for that transaction to be confirmed enough times to be safe. Between the two sits the blockchain doing its work, and knowing what that work is takes most of the stress out of waiting.

What a confirmation actually is

Blockchains don't process transactions one by one. They collect them into batches called blocks and add a new block to the chain at regular intervals.

• When your transaction is included in a block, it has one confirmation.
• Every block added after that one gives it another confirmation.

So "six confirmations" means your transaction's block has had five more blocks stacked on top of it.

It's a bit like paying in a cheque. The bank doesn't give you value straight away: it waits for the cheque to clear, so it can be sure the payment won't bounce. Confirmations are the blockchain's version of clearing, except there's no bank deciding: the waiting is built into how the network reaches agreement.

Why apps wait for more than one

Very occasionally, two miners or validators produce competing blocks at almost the same moment, and for a short time the network has two versions of the most recent history. The network soon settles on one. The other is dropped, and transactions that were only in the dropped block go back to waiting.

Each extra block on top makes it less and less likely that your transaction's block could be replaced. Waiting also protects against a deliberate trick called a double spend, where someone tries to send the same coins to two places at once.

So every platform chooses a number of confirmations it treats as final for each coin. That number differs from coin to coin and from platform to platform. A deposit only counts once it reaches the number the receiving platform has chosen.

Why some coins take longer than others

The biggest factor is how often the network makes a new block. These are rough averages, and real times vary:

Network	A new block roughly every
Bitcoin	10 minutes
Bitcoin Cash	10 minutes
Litecoin	2.5 minutes
Dogecoin	1 minute
Ethereum	12 seconds
TRON	3 seconds
BNB Smart Chain	A few seconds or less
Solana	Under a second

Block time isn't the whole story, though. A platform may ask for more confirmations on a coin with fast blocks than on one with slow blocks, so the total wait doesn't line up neatly with this table.

Other things that slow a deposit down:

• A busy network and a low fee. On Bitcoin, miners pick the transactions paying the highest fees first. When lots of people are sending, a low-fee transaction can wait in the mempool for hours. See unconfirmed Bitcoin transactions and how to pay less in Bitcoin fees.
• Plain luck. Bitcoin's ten minutes is an average, not a timer. A gap of 30 minutes or more between blocks happens from time to time.
• The sender hasn't really sent yet. Exchanges sometimes queue withdrawals or hold them for checks. Until there's a TXID, nothing is on the blockchain.
• Something other than confirmations. If the transfer went on the wrong network or without a required memo, no amount of waiting will make it appear. See memo and destination tags.

What waiting looks like: an example

Here's how a Bitcoin deposit might unfold. The times are made up to show how the pieces fit together.

• 10:00. Bisi taps Withdraw on an exchange. Status: processing. No TXID yet.
• 10:10. The exchange broadcasts the transaction and a TXID appears. The exchange now says "Completed". The receiving app may show the deposit as pending.
• 10:10 to 10:23. The transaction waits in the mempool for a miner to include it.
• 10:23. It's included in a block. One confirmation.
• 10:31, 10:44 and so on. More blocks arrive at uneven intervals, and the confirmations climb.
• Once the receiving platform's number is reached, the deposit is credited and Bisi can sell.

Nothing in that timeline went wrong. It's what normal looks like on a network with ten-minute blocks.

What to do if it's taking a long time

1. Get the TXID. If the sending app doesn't have one, the transaction hasn't been broadcast, so the sender's platform is the one to ask.
2. Look it up on the right explorer. Paste the TXID into the explorer for the network you used. Our guide to using a blockchain explorer walks you through it.
3. Read what you see.
   • Unconfirmed: it's waiting for a block. On Bitcoin, compare the fee rate you paid with what's currently needed.
   • Confirmed several times but not credited: check the address, network and memo, then contact the receiving platform.
   • Not found: you're probably on the wrong explorer, or it hasn't been sent.
4. Don't send it again to push things along. A second transfer doesn't speed up the first, and you'll pay a second fee.
5. Contact support with the details: coin, network, amount, TXID and the time you sent it. For KWIQ deposits, our support team is available 24/7 through live chat in the app and on kwiq.app.

After the wait

KWIQ's trades are fully automated, so most sales are done in minutes once your deposit is confirmed on the blockchain. Once you sell, the naira can reach your bank account in as little as 4 seconds. See what happens after you send crypto to KWIQ for the full journey.

Ready for your next deposit? Download the KWIQ app, or create a free account on the web if your phone is short on space, and you'll see the rate and the naira amount before you confirm every sale.