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Article Overview: This guide will take you through the simple but important process of verifying cryptocurrency transactions in the Blockchain. This is you fulfilling your full rights from the technology that grants full transparency and immutability.
You’ve bought some cryptocurrency and you’re ready to send it to your own crypto wallet or other exchanges. What’s next? Verifying that transaction of course!
The Blockchain is a digital, giant ledger of all transactions that are open for anyone to access. You should redeem your full rights of verifying each of your transactions to ensure that you are updated on its status in real-time.
It’s extremely simple and super cool! We’ll start with the most widely used cryptocurrency, Bitcoin.
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Verifying Cryptocurrency Transactions is as Easy as 1-2-3
"The only way to confirm the absence of a transaction is to be aware of all transactions"
- Satoshi Nakamoto
Step 1: Take Note of Your Transaction ID
After sending your coins from one address (exchange or wallet) to another, you would receive a transaction ID (or TxID) from your exchange/wallet.
This TxID represents a unique “fingerprint” of your transaction and allows your transaction to be tracked. Make sure you save the TxID.
Step 2: Input your Transaction ID into the Blockchain
Different cryptocurrencies have their own blockchain, which can be accessed from a website. For Bitcoin, you can track all transactions at https://blockchain.info/.
Enter your TxID into the search field located at the top right of the website:
Tip: Do not worry if you forgot to copy or save your TxID! You can also input your exchange or wallet address (can be either the depositing or receiving address).
Step 3: Check the Status of Your Transaction & Verify its Details
Here comes the awesome part! All the details regarding your transactions will show up after you’ve entered the TxID. You can verify the details of your transactions and check its status:
How Do I Check its Status?
If you look at the term “Confirmations” (as indicated in Red above), this shows the location of your transaction. The blockchain is a continuous sequence of blocks stacking up on top of each other, and each block contains hundreds of transactions, which includes yours.
So, the number of confirmations represents the number of blocks that are stacked on top of the block which contains your transaction. If you see 3 confirmations, it means that there are 3 blocks containing hundreds of transactions each on top of your block.
A confirmation means your transaction has been recorded in the blockchain (forever!). Usually, a total of 6 confirmations is needed before your coins are reflected at the receiving address.
Fees
The total fees you pay is indicated at the green box above, and this represents the “fee” that you have to pay the miners in the network. Why?
Because they play a huge role in securing your transactions and making sure that your transactions are recorded safely in the Blockchain. The fees are not fixed and can vary according to your transaction size.
What About Verifying Transactions of Other Coins or Tokens?
It is vital to understand the differences between a cryptocurrency coin and a token. You can read the comparison here: Coins, Tokens & Altcoins: What’s the Difference?
Generally, cryptocurrency coins have their own blockchain while tokens reside on top of another blockchain. A majority of tokens do not have their own Blockchain and instead are built on top of another Blockchain.
For instance, ERC20 coins leverage on and are verified through the Ethereum blockchain.
Therefore, if you want to verify transactions for say, Aragon (ERC20-compliant), you have to examine the transaction on the Ethereum blockchain.
In order to verify transactions that possess their own native blockchain, you can easily repeat the same process as mentioned in this guide. A list of Cryptocurrencies with their own blockchains are as follows:
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I'm Aziz, a seasoned cryptocurrency trader who's really passionate about 2 things; #1) the awesome-revolutionary blockchain technology underlying crypto and #2) helping make bitcoin great ‘again'!
