Author

Topic: What's the status of my bitcoins? (Read 1528 times)

legendary
Activity: 3514
Merit: 4895
November 23, 2013, 12:24:52 PM
#7
How long after a person sends you Bitcoins does it show up on blockchain?

On the blockchain.info website?  Or in the actual blockchain?

That's two completely separate questions, and you didn't clearly indicate what you are asking about.

"the blockchain" is a database that every full bitcoin node on the bitcoin network has a complete copy of.  It is a complete history of every bitcoin transaction that has ever occured.  It is not "owned by", or "operated by", or "controlled by" anyone.  It is maintained in a completely decentralized manner by a set of rules called a "protocol" that has been implemented by any software that communicates on the bitcoin network.  If a transaction is in "the blockchain", then it is "confirmed".  When the transaction is first added to "the blockchain" it has one confirmation.  As additional blocks are added to "the blockchain" after the transaction, each additional block is considered to be an additional confirmation.  On average blocks of transactions are added to "the blockchain" approximately every 10 minutes. How long you have to wait for any particular transaction to be added depends on how quickly blocks of transactions are being added, and on specific parameters of the transaction that determine if there is a financial incentive for someone to add the transaction to a block for you.

"blockchain.info" is a website that is created, owned, controlled, and operated by an individual person.  That person just happens to have named their website after a feature of the bitcoin protocol.  They can do whatever they want with their website, and it won't have a direct effect on "the blockchain" or the rest of the bitcoin network.  One of the features that the blockchain.info website offers is a list of transactions that their servers have seen occur on the bitcoin network.  As such, if you have information about a transaction (such as the transaction ID or the bitcoin address), you can search for that transaction at the blockchain.info website and see if they are aware of it.  If they are, and if you trust the operator of the blockchain.info website, then you can feel reasonably confident that the transaction exists on the bitcoin network.  You can also see if blockchain.info website is aware of any confirmations on the transaction yet.  Another feature that the blockchain.info website offers is a bitcoin wallet which allows you to send, and receive bitcoins at bitcoin addresses that you generate and they store for you.
legendary
Activity: 1736
Merit: 1029
November 22, 2013, 04:53:26 PM
#6
How long after a person sends you Bitcoins does it show up on blockchain?

It should show up very soon, it should actually show up right after they send it to you as an unconfirmed transaction.  Enter your TxID on blockchain.info and check.
sr. member
Activity: 364
Merit: 250
November 22, 2013, 04:40:43 PM
#5
Generally ten minutes, but sometimes it could take longer.

You should have a transaction ID though, or at least one is available before it is included in a block. You can search that on a block explorer and find the transaction before it's even confirmed.
full member
Activity: 208
Merit: 100
November 22, 2013, 04:12:39 PM
#4
How long after a person sends you Bitcoins does it show up on blockchain?
full member
Activity: 208
Merit: 100
November 21, 2013, 02:28:55 AM
#3
Just realized I didn't actually complete the order.  Roll Eyes
sr. member
Activity: 434
Merit: 250
November 21, 2013, 01:15:03 AM
#2
go to blockchain.info and enter your transaction number
full member
Activity: 208
Merit: 100
November 21, 2013, 01:05:10 AM
#1
I bought bitcoins early yesterday, although I had not yet completed the synch. Well, it just completed and I have zero bitcoins.

When I would hover over the synch progress bar, Bitcoin Qt showed me a message that might be relevant: "Transactions after this will not yet be visible."
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