Try buying something with bitcoin. The first confirmation is all that is needed and it happens in a matter of seconds. It won't be fully confirmed for ~10 minutes but that is fine for the vast majority of cases.
In case of an article (which is cheap) there is no need to wait for confirmation, it's enough to wait for transaction to appear in mempool and have enough fee.
Wouldn't that present a horrible UX in some cases when paying with bitcoin? You'd have to wait ~10 minutes to access your purchase while the transaction is confirmed
So you accept Bitcoin. Now you have to stand at the counter until the network gets enough confirmations… which can be upwards of 20 minutes. Doesn’t sound at all problematic...
Yes, frankly a stupid idea. The current 30 minutesish confirmation time already kneecaps bitcoin. You want to make it 48 hours? Might as well mail a bloody check!
> However, the problem is that the amount of time it takes for a transaction to become "verified," i.e. be part of the official block chain, can take up to 10 minutes.
It actually can take a lot more than 10 minutes. For all you know, it could take forever. 10 minutes is the average.
> What am I supposed to present to the user during this time? Am I supposed to tell them that their payment may or may not have been accepted, please check back in ten minutes or wait for an email?
That person is paying you with Bitcoins. They already have an idea of what a network confirmation is. Tell them you're waiting for N network confirmations. Send them an email when the transaction is verified by your node, and a second email when the transaction has enough network confirmations.
> How would you handle this if it were a real person in a real store, at a register checking out?
It depends on what you're doing. If it were a Starbucks, for example, I would serve the coffee right away, without waiting for blockchain verification. It's unlikely that someone who has more than 50% of the Bitcoin network is using that massive power to double-spend on a Chai Tea Latte.
If I needed more confirmation, I could send the transaction to some trusted miner nodes, and see if there's consensus. If those nodes say they will include the transaction in their next mined block, then I can close the deal without waiting for the blockchain to verify it. Of course, this can be done automatically.
Original issue: "However, the problem is that the amount of time it takes for a transaction to become "verified," i.e. be part of the official block chain, can take up to 10 minutes."
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