I'm pretty new to all this crypto currency stuff, but I'm wondering one thing. It takes a while before a bitcoin transaction is confirmed. Won't this be *the* problem for becoming used in retail stores for example?
I can't imagin waiting several minutes before my payment for my groceries are confirmed. Any thoughts on this?
I can't imagin waiting several minutes before my payment for my groceries are confirmed. Any thoughts on this?
Have you actually spent or transferred any Bitcoin? I usually find this question or argument coming from people who haven't. Once they've been sent they're as good as received. Retail shops will use a payment processor that will insure against any problems like this anyway so it's not a problem either way.
But from what I understand from the other answers is that you can be pretty sure an unconfirmed transaction will get confirmed.
Has anyone ever ran into a transaction which did not get confirmed?
Nope, but it's very rare that will happen. I don't think it will be a problem for retail businesses at all. It's safer than accepting a cheque or credit card, and there's a lot of fake money floating around that Bitcoin solves. I think even with tiny flaws BTC is better than fiat and credit cards etc.
