Every time someone sends Bitcoin or Bitcoin Cash, a transaction is created. Adding transactions to the blockchain requires large mathematical calculations. This process of confirming the payment secures transactions on the blockchain and is time-consuming. After a transaction becomes part of a block in the blockchain, the recipient receives the payment. (How do bitcoin block confirmations work?)

When network traffic is high, many users’ transactions will be delayed. Transactions on the Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash network itself aren't confirmed by BitPay, but by the miners. (What are bitcoin miner fees?)

If your transaction has not been confirmed yet, please allow some time for it to be confirmed. Typically, a transaction takes between five minutes and three hours to get confirmed. This is normal, and confirmation time depends mostly on current network traffic.

You can check the status of your transaction on any blockchain explorer by looking up the transaction ID, sending address, or receiving address. BitPay has a cryptocurrency explorer (https://bitpay.com/insight/#/BTC/mainnet/home). To change the coin from bitcoin, click the drop-down in the upper right corner where it says BTC.

An incoming transaction to my BitPay or Copay App is missing!

My transaction is not confirmed yet

If the transaction receives a confirmation, your wallet should update automatically.

If the transaction does not confirm, the funds will be spendable again from the sender's wallet. This may take up to 30 days.

My transaction is confirmed but is not showing up in my wallet.

Here are some possible reasons you may not see your transaction:

If you need further help, please reach out to BitPay Customer Success and provide your wallet ID and transaction ID.

What to do if you have an unconfirmed transaction

Both incoming and outgoing transactions must confirm. In the BitPay Wallet, during the confirmation period you will see a small stopwatch icon. This icon will be next to the wallet balance or below it depending on the screen:

The stopwatch icon means the transaction has not yet been confirmed. The transaction will display as Receiving or Sending until it confirms. Before you can spend the funds, the transaction must confirm. The confirmation time is not controlled by BitPay.

How to check a transaction’s status on the blockchain

To check the confirmation status of a transaction in your BitPay App:

• Open the BitPay App.
• Choose the wallet that sent or received the funds.
• Tap the pending transaction.

Unconfirmed transactions will show Unconfirmed next to the Confirmations field. A transaction with less than 6 confirmations will show the number of confirmations. A transaction with more than 6 confirmations will show 6+ as the number of confirmations.

Clicking View on blockchain will open BitPay’s blockchain explorer Insight:

On the top of the page you can see the Transaction ID.

Below Details you can see the transaction addresses:

• On the left side you can see the address (or addresses) that sent the funds.
• The destination addresses are shown on the right side. The destination addresses include the receiving address (or addresses) and the change address.
• The receiving address belongs to the wallet that received the payment.
• The change address is the sending wallet’s address for any funds greater than the payment amount. (What is a change address?)

Under the destination addresses, you can find the confirmation status. The confirmation status will either be Unconfirmed or show the number of confirmations. To the right of the confirmation status is the total amount transacted. The total amount transacted is the funds sent to the recipient plus the change. 

I need to send funds urgently, what can I do?

If you need to initiate a transaction and are waiting on funds to confirm, you can set your BitPay Wallet to use unconfirmed funds:

- Open the BitPay App.

- Tap the gear icon in the tabs bar on the bottom.

- Scroll down and tap Advanced.

- Enable Use unconfirmed funds.

Please note that this only applies for sending funds. This setting does not let you purchase gift cards, load your BitPay Card, or pay BitPay invoices.

I sent funds to pay a BitPay invoice but they weren’t received

If you sent a transaction to a BitPay merchant but it has not been confirmed yet, you will need to wait for it to be confirmed by the miners. When will my payment confirm?

What if I sent Bitcoin/Bitcoin Cash to an expired BitPay invoice?