Is the transaction congestion in the Bitcoin network too annoying? Try these methods

In recent years, the number of transactions in the Bitcoin network has been steadily increasing. This means that more and more blocks are blocked. Because transactions cannot be broadcast immediately in the blockchain, the miners' memory pool (equivalent to the "transaction queue") has a large backlog of orders.

Miners prefer to prioritize transactions with higher fees in blocks. Transactions with lower fees must readjust their fees in the so-called "free market" and temporarily store them in the miner's memory pool before the next block is generated. If the adjusted fee is still lower than the bid of other transactions, the confirmation of the transaction will have to be further delayed.

This situation affects the user experience. Transactions with lower transaction fees may take hours, days, or even not be confirmed at all.

The following measures can effectively alleviate transaction jams.

Before sending a transaction

When Bitcoin was first created, most wallets set a fixed transaction fee, which was basically around 0.1 mBTC. At that time, because miners mined a large block space, they usually would not refuse to confirm transactions (in fact, even transactions below the minimum standard or transactions with no fees could be confirmed).

As the block space continues to decrease, the fixed fee of 0.1 mBTC can no longer meet the needs of miners. They began to choose the confirmation order based on the fee, and the adjustment of the fee also appeared. However, at that time, even transactions with the lowest fee could be confirmed in the end, but they had to wait for a while.

Increase handling fees

If you want to speed up transaction confirmation time, the most direct solution is to increase the transaction fee.

If your wallet has a lower fixed fee (by default), you can adjust it manually, either directly in your wallet settings or when sending a transaction (or both).

Websites such as 21.co can monitor network conditions in real time, provide the most suitable transaction fees for different transaction amounts, and tell you the transaction confirmation time corresponding to each fee standard.

Dynamic fee feature for wallets

Currently, most wallets support dynamic fee adjustment. Based on the data of the Bitcoin network, the wallet can automatically estimate and adjust the fee standard required for the user to the next block.

Some wallets also let users choose how to prioritize fees. Of course, higher fees guarantee faster confirmations, while low-fee transactions will take longer to be confirmed.

If transactions in your wallet are frequently delayed during peak times and fee adjustments are not being made, your wallet may need an updated version, or you can switch to a new wallet.

Get a new wallet

If you decide to switch to a new wallet, you will definitely need to transfer the funds. If you are not in a hurry and don't mind paying a small fee, you can send funds through the Bitcoin network. Even a low fee will work.

If the situation is urgent, you can export your private key or private key seed from the old wallet and import it into the new wallet. This will not generate transactions in the Bitcoin network. You can also start your own transactions directly.

After the transaction is sent

If your transaction is stuck in the network after being sent, you can choose to "jump the queue".

Fee Substitution Method

The easiest way to successfully jump the queue is to Opt-In Replace-by-Fee (Opt-In RBF, also known as the Opt-In RBF method). With this method, you can adjust the fee and resend the transaction.

In most cases, if the same transaction is sent again, even if the fee is increased, the new transaction will not be recognized. Bitcoin nodes usually regard this new transaction as a double spend, so it will not be confirmed or broadcast.

But with Opt-In RBF, when you send a transaction, the network node already knows that you may adjust the fee and resend it. Therefore, most Bitcoin nodes are more accepting of the second transaction and allow this new transaction to jump the queue.

Whether the new transaction can be written into the next block depends on the miners: not all miners support Opt-In RBF. However, as long as there are enough miners supporting Opt-In RBF, your transaction confirmation time will not be delayed too long.

There are currently two wallets that support Opt-In RBF: Electrum and GreenAddress. Before sending a transaction, you may need to enable this feature in the wallet menu bar.

Father-Son Payment Scheme

If your wallet does not support Opt-In RBF, then the situation is a bit complicated.

Child Pays for Parent (CPFP) is a viable option. CPFP can ensure that miners do not prioritize transactions with the highest fees, but instead choose to merge a series of transactions with the highest fees.

In simple terms, with CPFP, most transactions will not only send the transaction to the recipient, but also give you "change". You can spend this "change" in subsequent transactions.

Some wallets even allow you to use the change before the transaction is confirmed, so you can send the change to yourself in a new round of transactions. Then you can increase the transaction fee to make up for the fee of the previous transaction. Miners will measure the total fee of a series of transactions you send to confirm.

If your wallet does not allow you to choose to spend bitcoins autonomously (i.e. you cannot prioritize sending unconfirmed change), then you can choose to send all the funds in your wallet, which will include the change.

Like Opt-In RBF, not all miners support CPFP. However, as long as there are enough miners supporting CPFP, your transaction confirmation time will not be delayed too long.

or……

If Opt-In RBF and CPFP are not feasible, there is another way. You can directly resend the transaction and attach a higher fee. This method is called "full replace-by-fee". Some miners will accept this method, but this function does not exist in all wallets at present.

This method has only two results: waiting for the transaction to be confirmed or waiting for the bitcoin to be returned to the wallet. Please note that before the transaction is confirmed, the bitcoin is still in your wallet - it just exists in a way that you cannot see. In fact, bitcoins will not be "stuck" in the network, so there is no possibility of loss.

As a recipient

If you are just the recipient, the transaction may still be congested.

If your wallet supports sending unconfirmed transactions, you can also choose CPFP. As mentioned above, you can resend unconfirmed transactions, but you can change the recipient to yourself. If the new fee is still not high enough, you can only wait for a few more blocks.

Or you can have the sender use Opt-In RBF and reset the fee.