Transaction Confirmations

Transaction confirmations count how many blocks have been added to a chain since the block containing a given transaction. Zero confirmations means the transaction has been broadcast but not yet mined; one confirmation means it sits in the newest block; every later block adds another. The count matters because chain histories can still be reorganised near the tip, so a very recent transaction is easier to displace than a deeply buried one. Exchanges and merchants therefore set their own thresholds before crediting a deposit, and those thresholds differ between networks because block times and consensus rules differ. Chains with explicit finality treat a transaction as settled after a finalisation step rather than by counting blocks.