Transactions and confirmations
Crypto Dispensers | Bitcoin learning path
AI-generated narration. Original diagrams; fictional examples.
Reviewed October 22, 2026.

Choose the payment network correctly
Before sending, check what both sides support. The asset is what you're sending, such as Bitcoin, labeled BTC. The network is the payment system it will travel through. On-chain means recorded on Bitcoin's blockchain. Lightning is another way to make Bitcoin payments and uses different receiving instructions. An on-chain address and a Lightning invoice, a payment request, aren't interchangeable.

Shared with the network, then in a block
Broadcast means the signed transaction has been shared with other computers. It may be waiting for inclusion in a block. That is zero confirmations. Its first confirmation means inclusion in a block on the current chain. Later blocks add confirmations. A receiving service can require several confirmations before making a payment available.

Why a transfer can wait
An on-chain network fee pays for using block space. It is different from a company's purchase charge or a bank's fee. Demand for block space affects waiting. Bitcoin targets about ten minutes between blocks on average. A particular block, or your transaction's inclusion, can take longer. A fee does not buy an exact completion time.

Find out which step is pending
Pending means a step hasn't finished. A bank payment, an account review or a provider's withdrawal processing may be pending before any Bitcoin transaction is broadcast. A withdrawal means moving funds out of an account. First ask which step is waiting. A bank receipt doesn't prove that Bitcoin was sent, and a Bitcoin record can't show a private account review.

One transaction can pay several destinations
An output is one amount assigned to a receiving destination in a Bitcoin transaction. A transaction can have several outputs, including another recipient or change returned to the sender. To check Maya's receipt, match her confirmed receiving address to its output. The combined total of every output isn't necessarily the amount she received.

What do zero confirmations tell you?
Maya sees a genuine transaction record with zero confirmations. Does that mean the bank never received her dollars, or that the payment must finish in exactly ten minutes? Neither. It tells her the transaction hasn't been included in a block on the current chain. Return to stage five to practice separating these statuses.

Continue: https://www.cryptodispensers.com/learn#lp-transactions