Key takeaways
- Bitcoin transactions may take from one minute to several hours to confirm, depending on the network’s congestion. The good news is that there are ways to speed up a Bitcoin transaction in 2025.
- As Bitcoin becomes more relevant with more people using it as a payment method, troubleshooting Bitcoin transaction issues will help you compete for the next block to confirm your transaction.
- More solutions for pending Bitcoin transactions are now available. They are easy to implement and provide peace of mind.
- Recent developments let users add higher fees to their transactions even after sending the payment.
In 2025, Bitcoin is expected to grow as a new global store of value and decentralized monetary system and will get more regularly transacted. As a consequence, Bitcoin’s limited block space to a maximum of 4MB may result in consistent network congestion and Bitcoin transaction confirmation issues, with users’ payments delayed by hours, even days.
Fortunately, Bitcoin 
BTCUSD owners can use a few methods to resolve blockchain transaction delays, especially during times of congestion that may delay or even cancel a time-sensitive payment.
Setting the right transaction fee before sending a payment will help users process their Bitcoin without panic.
This article is your guide to sorting stuck Bitcoin transactions. It will help you speed up BTC pending payments, providing a Bitcoin transaction fix step-by-step.
How do Bitcoin transactions work?
A Bitcoin transaction lets a network participant transfer value to a recipient using a wallet. When someone initiates a Bitcoin transaction, they broadcast it to all the network nodes. These nodes maintain the blockchain’s complete history, including all the unconfirmed transactions that are still waiting for the network to add them to the next block.
Unconfirmed transactions end up in the mempool (memory pool), a temporary storage space or a queue of pending transactions. A transaction is confirmed only when a miner adds it to a block and removes it from the mempool.
Understanding transaction fees in 2025
When users launch a BTC transaction, they pay miners a network fee for validating payments and adding them to the blockchain. Miners are individuals or businesses that must make money and earn revenue by generating new Bitcoin.
They also aim to maximize returns through users’ fees and will, therefore, move the higher-fee transactions from the mempool and add them to the next block.
However, Bitcoin’s block space can only contain a limited number of transactions, depending on the size of the data to be transferred. High network congestion will cause delays in confirming the lower fee transactions that must wait until they are prioritized over other payments and added to the next block.
Why Bitcoin transactions get stuck
A wallet will usually set the best transaction fee based on the current network traffic. Users can set a custom fee to speed up the transaction if they need a quick resolution. The higher the fee they pay, the faster the transaction will be confirmed.
That said, sudden spikes in network congestion may delay a Bitcoin payment. Also, a low fee will greatly increase the wait time. Paying the minimum fee often puts transactions at the back of the queue, where they may get stuck as pending.
This happens until mempool unconfirmed payments get resolved, the network congestion eases, and the fee paid becomes acceptable to the miner to include it in the next block.
Did you know? Community-based or miner-run Bitcoin transaction accelerators help prioritize stuck transactions by manually including them in the next block for a fee. These are especially useful in times of network congestion.
Checking the status of your Bitcoin transaction
All Bitcoin transactions are published on the mempool. A miner removes a transaction from the mempool and confirms it only when they add it to a block.
A stuck transaction may remain pending indefinitely, and those with the lowest fees may even be left in the mempool for an unlimited period, although never more than a few days. When this happens, funds are returned to the sender’s wallet, which can send a new transaction. A higher fee will likely confirm the payment faster.
Bitcoin users can check their transaction status with one of the blockchain explorers available, including the same Mempool.space. Here, the paid transaction fees can even be compared with the existing displayed fee rate. This checks if a low fee is causing a stuck transaction.
How to find unconfirmed Bitcoin transactions using block explorers
All block explorers have a search field where you can enter a transaction ID or a wallet address. Transaction IDs are normally a set of long strings of letters and numbers.
Depending on the explorer tool you are using, the info may be displayed in different ways. Tapping it usually lets you view details such as confirmations, addresses, the Bitcoin amount sent, fees and the timestamp.
To view the status of your transaction, follow these steps:
- Choose a reputable block explorer like the mempool one.
- Look for the search box provided on the main page.
- Enter the transaction ID. The result will show you the essential details of your transaction.
If your transaction is still pending, it will be “unconfirmed” and will show the estimated block that will confirm the transaction. If there is no estimated block, it means the fee was too low, effectively making the transaction stuck for a while.
How to fix Bitcoin transaction delays
There are plenty of valuable tips to avoid stuck Bitcoin transactions. They should always be preceded by such questions: How urgent is your Bitcoin transaction? Are you ready to pay a higher fee to settle it faster?
If you have no urgency to make a payment, you can simply initiate the transaction and wait for it to confirm. No money will be lost, and, in the worst case, if the transaction is not confirmed, funds will be returned to your wallet.
To avoid stress during network congestion, set a higher transaction fee. This will ensure your transaction is added to the next block and confirmed quickly.
Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you handle stuck Bitcoin transactions and confirm them faster.
Step 1: How to use replace-by-fee (RBF) to fix a stuck transaction
If your transaction has already started and you haven’t raised the miner fee, it may get stuck in the mempool due to congestion. Is there anything you can do in that instance?
Yes, you can still jump the queue using a tool called replace-by-fee (RBF). It allows you to rebroadcast the same unconfirmed transaction with a higher fee. This increases the chance that miners will pick it up and add it to the next block.
There are several RBF variations, but a good option is the opt-in RBF. It lets the sender indicate they want to replace their low-fee transaction with a higher one, in case it gets stuck in congestion.
In most cases, you will have to enable the opt-in RBF option in the settings before the transaction is sent. This is important to avoid nodes rejecting the replaced transaction thinking it’s a fraudulent double spend.
Step 2: Using child-pays-for-parent (CPFP) to clear a stuck transaction
In case your wallet doesn’t provide the opt-in RBF tool, there’s another option that may help you get your transaction confirmed faster.
It is called child-pays-for parent (CPFP). It lets the user spend the output from a low-fee unconfirmed transaction, the “parent.” The new transaction, a “child” transaction, will have a higher fee rate and incentivizes miners to pick both transactions and add them both in the next block.
Check your wallet before sending a new transaction to see if both or either RFB and CPFP are supported. Not all miners or wallets allow the tool.
Step 3: Accelerating your Bitcoin transaction with mining pools
Several mining pools offer a “transaction accelerator” via third-party services, like Mempool or ViaBTC. A stuck transaction with at least a 0.1 mBTC fee per kilobyte can be accelerated by entering the ID in the relevant search bar. The participating pool will prioritize it over other transactions. The service is free, although it’s limited to 100 transactions per hour.
The Mempool Accelerator lets users speed up their pending Bitcoin transactions for a fee using Lightning or Cash App.
Did you know? CPFP was conceptualized by Bitcoin developers to address low-fee transaction issues, enabling users to speed up confirmations by incentivizing miners with higher fees in subsequent transactions.
Preventing stuck Bitcoin transactions in the future
Assessing the urgency of the payment is the first step to set the appropriate fee rate. During high network congestion or price volatility, users can set custom fees. This ensures their transaction gets confirmed quickly and doesn’t get stuck or rejected.
Remember that even if you’ve sent a transaction, it can be easily accelerated with the RBF or CPFP. Check your wallet to see if these tools are available. If these options are unavailable, wait for the transaction to confirm. If it gets cancelled, resend it after checking the network congestion.
