When a transaction occurs on the Ethereum blockchain, it is initiated by an external account owner – not a contract. For instance, if User A sends 1 Ether (ETH) to User B, the act of debiting from one account and crediting to another will alter the blockchain’s state. This change occurs specifically on the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM).
After a transaction is broadcast to the network, any node can request its execution on the EVM. This request is then validated by a validator who propagates the state change to the whole network. Transaction fees are incurred during validation, and each transaction must be included in a validated block.
The Ethereum network supports different types of transactions, including regular transactions that move funds from one account to another. Additionally, there are contract-execution transactions that interact with deployed smart contracts, where the “to” address is a smart contract address. Lastly, there are contract-deployment transactions that have no “to” address and use the data field to deploy a smart contract’s code.
What is the importance of checking a transaction’s status?
Traders should check a transaction’s status for several reasons when using Ethereum. Firstly, Ethereum participants must pay gas fees to transfer funds or deploy smart contracts on the network. These fees are largely determined by the number of participants waiting to execute transactions at any given time. Thus, network congestion and demand are directly proportional to transaction costs. Checking a transaction’s status can help traders monitor the cost of using the network.
Secondly, checking a transaction’s status can help users determine if the gas fee they paid is sufficient to have their transaction confirmed. Low gas fees can cause transactions to truncate or delay, especially during high network congestion. Such transactions will remain pending until the gas fees reach the required minimum fees on the network. If this happens, a user can resend the transaction by resubmitting it and increasing the gas fee while ensuring it carries the same nonce.
Moreover, Ethereum blockchain explorers can provide traders with additional helpful information, including the timestamp of the transaction, the number of blocks mined since confirmation, the transaction fee paid to the miner or validator, the ETH price at the time of processing, the base fee required to transact on Ethereum, the maximum gas limit allocated by the sender, and the nonce marking each transaction executed on a user’s wallet. By staying informed of this information, traders can ensure their ETH transactions are processed quickly and correctly, and adjust their spending habits to optimize network usage.
Step-by-step guide to checking the status of an Ethereum transaction
To track Ethereum transactions, follow these steps:
- Step 1: Choose an Ethereum blockchain explorer, such as Etherscan, Ethplorer, EthVM, Blockchain.com, or Tokenview.
- Step 2: Enter the transaction hash, which is a unique identifier attached to the transaction, into the search field of the blockchain explorer. Some platforms allow users to search for information based on a wallet address, txid, block, token, or domain name.
- Step 3: Click the search or enter icon on the blockchain explorer.
- Step 4: Check the status of the transaction on the explorer. If the transaction was successful, it will say “success” or “successful.” The ETH should be credited to the destination wallet or exchange account within 24 hours. If there are no error messages displayed, the transaction was completed successfully.
If the transaction failed, several error messages may appear. A red exclamation point or an “out of gas” error means the transaction was unsuccessful, and the funds did not reach their intended destination. If there’s a “reverted” error, it pertains to a smart contract user error, and the user should double-check the transaction details. If the transaction is not found, it may not have gone through, or it isn’t appearing on the explorer yet. Pending transactions are waiting to be validated or processed but may still be canceled or replaced by the user.
How long does it take to finish an Ethereum transaction?
The processing time for an Ethereum transaction typically ranges from 15 seconds to five minutes, depending on various factors such as the transaction fee and network congestion.
Although Ethereum shifted from a proof-of-work to a proof-of-stake blockchain after the Merge, the transaction speeds have remained relatively unchanged. Despite a minor difference in the time slots between pre-Merge and post-Merge, processing times still heavily rely on network congestion and transaction fees.
Once a transaction is initiated, it is held in Ethereum’s memory pool (mempool) until validators process it. The mempool is similar to a waiting room for pending transactions.
After a validator adds the transaction data to a block and adds the block to the blockchain, the transaction is considered complete. It becomes finalized and irreversible after six additional blocks are mined and added on top of it.
By checking the status of a transaction, traders can determine whether it was successful or not and how many blocks have been added to the chain since the transaction was initiated.
(Reference: Cointelegraph)