Time goes by, cryptocurrencies are developing, more and more people use them, and because of this, more questions arise.
Recently, the issue of confirming transactions has been especially acute, since sometimes they have to wait too long. We will now tell you how it works and where to check the network congestion.
Mempool Bitcoin, what is it and where to look? The blockchain has a special memory, all unconfirmed transactions are added to it. This is called mempool.
When it is overloaded, the waiting time for an acknowledgment increases. Miners, on the other hand, choose the nodes where the highest reward is offered. That's why, the size of the commission affects the speed of processing the transaction.
Transactions in the Bitcoin blockchain mempool
Detailed explanation - mempool is the database of all transactions, who are awaiting confirmation.
As soon as a new transaction is performed on the network, it takes 10 minutes to confirm it (the time between the creation of new blocks). But depending on the number of operations, this period can be significantly extended.
Over the past 6 months, problems in the Bitcoin mempool have appeared constantly. This is what affects the speed of transactions.
Any beginner will quickly figure out what a mempool is. All new operations with BTC are first approved by the network, and then they go to the mempool, where they are awaiting confirmation from the miners.
As soon as miners include it in the next block, the transfer receives the first confirmation (some transactions require multiple confirmation).
Each node in the blockchain network has its own mempool. Its size is customizable. If the operation is completed, the data on the unconfirmed transfer is deleted.
As a rule, miners choose first of all those transactions where a higher commission is set. In addition to block rewards, they receive a portion of the commission, so when you set a higher commission, your transactions are processed faster.
Mempool size Bitcoin
The network nodes have different memory sizes for storing unconfirmed translations. Therefore, each of them has its own algorithm for processing operations.
When the memory is almost full, a minimum commission threshold is set. Then everything is simple, applications with a suitable commission are processed faster, and all other transactions are simply rejected.
The mempool belongs to BIP 35, with its help "light" wallets carry out transactions. At the same time, the mempool itself is one of the main problems of the entire Bitcoin network.
Users are not always happy with how quickly their translations are processed. And nobody wants to wait for hours for confirmation or pay an increased commission.
Where to check the Bitcoin mempool online?
There are many resources where a graph of the load of unconfirmed transactions is published. You can view it on the website, displaying different periods of time - the Bitcoin mempool for the last month, year, week, day:
Professionals monitor this indicator, because in times of load decline, you can set a minimum commission and hope for a quick confirmation of the transaction.
Through the same service, you can only see the total number of unconfirmed Bitcoin transactions:
The first graph shows a graph of the utilization in bytes. Considering that there is 1 Mb in each block of the blockchain. information, you can divide the indicators by 1000 and get the value in blocks. For example, at the moment the mempool is loaded with almost 40,000 blocks.
In simple words, a mempool is a set of transactions that have not yet been completed and are awaiting confirmation.... In any pool, a congestion of operations can occur, which will lead to delays in their execution.
Typically, the Bitcoin mempool does not contain too much information, but the influx of data can be dramatic.
This creates problems for users. Despite the ability to speed up transfers, no one raises the commission. The processing speed of transactions can decrease for various reasons, and this delays the transaction execution time for a longer period.
Increasingly, the flow of new transfers exceeds the number that miners can handle.
Overloads begin when there is less than 1 MB of memory left in the mempool. If this happens, the waiting time for confirmation increases by the number of mined blocks.
For example, if the pool size is 20 MB, then transactions with a small commission will receive confirmation only after every 20th block.
Those who need to quickly complete a transaction will have to pay an increased commission, there is no other way. Bitcoin developers have already tried to increase the volume of megabytes in each block, this led to the emergence of BitcoinCash (there are 8 MB blocks.).
In the meantime, the problem of mempool congestion remains relevant, and high commission transactions will definitely be prioritized.
Mempool Ethereum
There is nothing to talk about, because the principles are exactly the same. Now there is no serious workload for this cryptocurrency, transactions are carried out quickly, even if you set a minimum commission.
If you are interested in seeing the Ethereum mempool, go. The maximum value on the graph yielded 20,000 unconfirmed transactions, but that quickly changed.
The constant expansion of the Bitcoin network and an increase in the audience of users leads to serious loads on the blockchain. It becomes more and more difficult to wait for transactions when a large commission is not charged.
Try to look at the bitcoin mempool before performing the operation, it is advisable to choose the moments when it is less loaded, otherwise, without a large commission, you will have to wait a long time for the transfer to be processed.
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Bitcoin is again in the spotlight - for the same reason, however, as always: the rate of this cryptocurrency to paper money has taken a new height. At its peak last week, Bitcoin was trading at $ 2,700, which means the rate has more than doubled since March alone.
Well, as regular readers know, I personally think that writing only about bitcoin exchange rate jumps is not just boring, but also counterproductive, because I see the main purpose of BTC not speculation, but the use as a payment instrument of a new type: it does not know borders, does not require intermediaries in classical understanding (banks, states, material medium). But the highlight of the current situation is precisely in the fact that simultaneously with the last jump in prices, another record was set, much less vivid, but also noticed only by understanding people. Let's talk about him today, because his achievement - the expected minimum for the entire last year - paints a not at all fun prospect for those who use Bitcoin in any way.
But first, let me outline the situation in May. Before that, bitcoin trading on cryptocurrency exchanges was relatively smooth. Yes, the exchange rate danced back and forth, sometimes reaching fluctuations of 25%, but the dynamics of its changes were unhurried, so that it was used by those who needed it for business, not speculation, and the load on the Bitcoin network was normal. The jump to a record high at the end of April and the subsequent rapid upward movement made the media, popular bloggers and the like again remember about BTC. Through them, a new big wave of ordinary people learned about Bitcoin: people who had never encountered cryptocurrencies before, but were attracted by the hype and decided to try.
Average Bitcoin to US dollar rate on popular exchange platforms.
Bitcoin space is very large, and sometimes a lot of what happens on the network is hidden from our eyes. Fortunately for cryptocurrency lovers, there are many monitoring tools that track the statistics of the Bitcoin network and display real information. Some members of the cryptocurrency community even try to use these statistics to make their own predictions.
In this article, we will discuss several sites that offer statistical information about the Bitcoin network. Many of these online tools are useful for tracking and charting daily protocol changes, as well as giving us insight into cryptocurrency behavior. This includes various blockchain observers, node counters, and many other interesting analytical tools that help us look at the Bitcoin ecosystem in a new way.
Blockchain Observers
Blockchain Observers help Bitcoin users identify all transactions that have occurred on the network since the inception of the distributed ledger of the cryptocurrency. At first, there were very few such observers, but as the Bitcoin network grew, their number increased.
The oldest blockchain explorer to date. Users can enter the Bitcoin address and view its contents, transaction IDs, and get an overview of all transactions on the network. The site contains data on the fees paid for the transaction, the height of the block in which the transaction is included, the number of confirmations, and much more.
In addition, the site contains a huge amount of statistical data and graphs. Users have at their disposal information about the block, mining, cryptocurrency statistics and various actions on the network. The greatest demand is for information about the price of Bitcoin and the average block size, as well as the transaction counter and the size of the mempool.
OXT
Another interesting blockchain explorer is a site called OXT (open exploration tool), which is a blockchain exploration tool. Similar to other blockchain observers, OXT can display transactions on the Bitcoin network. In addition, the site analyzes various types of behavior in the Bitcoin blockchain using charts and trajectory display tools. This includes time charts showing commissions, transactions, scripts, and more. In addition, the OXT arsenal includes scatter plots that provide a new perspective on the behavior of Bitcoin transactions and addresses.
Other popular reviewers include Blockcypher, Insight, Blocktrail, and Sochain. Each observer demonstrates blockchain data a little differently, but in general, the information about transactions is the same.
Network statistics graphs
Statoshi.info
Statoshi.info provides real-time statistics of the Bitcoin network. The dashboards of the site contain counters for nodes, bandwidth utilization, estimates of transaction fees, system performance metrics, information on memory pools, and much more. The site has been around for several years, each dashboard displays different graphs that analyze specific sections of network and protocol behavior.
Another graphic site that has been around for quite some time. The price charts presented on the site are very popular among network users. BitcoinWisdom price charts reflect the value of the cryptocurrency on various exchanges such as Bitstamp, BTCC, Kraken and Bitfinex.
BitcoinWisdom displays other statistics as well, such as network complexity or past and current hash rates.
Another site containing statistics on the Bitcoin network is called. Users are offered a variety of charts displaying past and current statistical information about Bitcoin. The site interface contains a counter of mempools, mined blocks, transactions and many other useful network diagrams. Tradeblock also monitors the Ethereum blockchain and has its own observers.
It is also possible to "track Bitcoin" using the website. This tool demonstrates the visual interpretation of network transactions, as well as the relationship of transactions with individual addresses. The site traces the origins of Bitcoin and follows it through the blockchain using visual diagrams.
Host information
Node Counter
Node Counter is an analytical website that monitors the nodes of the Bitcoin network. Here are graphical representations of the Bitcoin Core, Classic and Unlimited (BU) nodes. Each table shows different nodes of the network, as well as pools reporting support for alternative Bitcoin clients and proposals for resizing the block. Information on Nodecounter is presented in the form of line graphs and pie charts.
Founded by start-up 21 Inc, the site is also often used to explore various graphs and tables depicting the behavior of Bitcoin's nodes. The site contains a snapshot of the network, as well as a search tool to check the status of nodes. Bitnodes displays nodes by Bitcoin Core, Classic, and Unlimited (BU) clients.
Coin Dance
Another very useful tool is called. It shows users various analyzes and graphs related to nodes in the network. The graphical interface also contains implementations of different nodes with different types of graphs. CoinDance is also popular due to other data presented, such as trading volume on Localbitcoins and Paxful, or even charts reflecting the views of well-known companies in the industry regarding support for Segregated Witness, Emergent Consensus and UASF (BIP 148).
Visualization gives a new perspective on the Bitcoin network
All of these monitoring sites offer us a different view of the web, and each of them, depending on the goal, has its own merits. The information provided through these tools can improve our relationship with the network by providing a better understanding of what is happening. In some cases, graphical display is the best method for interpreting network performance and protocol behavior.
In the past few days, several misfortunes have simultaneously fallen on the Bitcoin network from different sides. Separately, similar events have happened before, but now all the factors have merged together at once. It seems that some mysterious but powerful force is putting Bitcoin under heavy and sophisticated tests in order to check whether it is suitable for the role of the global payment system?
Even if no invisible hand exists, such a stress test will be useful for Bitcoin developers and the entire community. After all, it is precisely such situations that show a real margin of safety and reveal shortcomings. Let's see how events developed.
1. At the end of June, due to the "bank holidays" and even for the Greeks, the activity in the Bitcoin network increased. A lot of people are interested in cryptocurrency as independent from state control a means of preserving your savings in times of financial instability. By themselves, these events are more useful for Bitcoin, but have now created additional burden.
2. Discussions about the insufficient limitation of the block size in 1 MB have been going on for a long time, with varying success and even conflicts, but two weeks ago, finally, it was about increasing the limit to 8 MB at the beginning of 2016.
3. On June 23, Coinwallet.eu exchange for everyone that the block size change is really necessary. She succeeded, but the extremely practical method of proof caused a considerable stir in the community. Moreover, the company has warned that it will conduct the second stage of "testing".
4. On July 4, a critical issue of the main mining pools arose, caused by the transition to mandatory compliance with BIP66 - changing the Bitcoin protocol to version 3 (v3) blocks. As a result, the network split for some time into two actually equal branches and there was a separation and loss (for miners) of two chains of 6 and 3 blocks, respectively. To date, almost all pools have switched to version 3 blocks, except for the two largest ones - F2Pool (formerly Discus Fish) and Antpool. Therefore, the "alarming" status in the network has not yet been canceled and blockchain bifurcations are still possible.
5. But the most interesting thing began on the evening of July 7 - someone launched an attack on the network with "transaction spam" - that is, generating a huge number of small transactions that completely clogged all new blocks. At the moment, it is not known who and for what purpose is conducting this attack. Despite the general availability of the blockchain, Bitcoin's anonymity does not accurately establish the origin of these transactions. Now about 400 linked addresses have been found, which continuously transmit 1000 satoshi (0.00001 BTC) to each other, while paying a commission, therefore, the attack is not cheap for the initiator. Here is one of these addresses, and following the chain, you can find the rest.
What's happening?
We will try to describe the current situation. Yesterday, the queue of unconfirmed transactions began to grow rapidly. Previously, it rarely exceeded 10,000, but now, according to Blockchain.info data, it constantly keeps above 20,000:
The total size of all unconfirmed transactions is almost 22 megabytes, which means that it takes an average of 22 full blocks to send them, but transactions continue to arrive constantly. Therefore, the queue size remains almost unchanged. The situation is aggravated by the fact that there are a lot of "empty" blocks in the network containing only 1-2 transactions. Each block includes at least one transaction - in which miners receive mined coins. It is not known whether this is due to technical reasons or from the desire of the pool owners to get the block faster. Each empty block pushes back the queue by another 10 minutes.
The consequences of the attack are clearly visible on some charts on Blockchain.info:
You can see that both the number of transactions per block and the average block size have skyrocketed over the past two days, already dangerously close to the 1MB maximum. Thus, this second stress test once again convincingly proves the need to increase the limit.
In addition to major troubles, there were also minor ones. In particular, at about 21:00 Moscow time, one of the main information resources about Bitcoin, Blockchain.info, "froze" for a while.
This happened due to two blocks that the block explorer could not read - and from F2Pool, which, nevertheless, passed into the main blockchain. The service is now working, but still does not show transactions from these two blocks.
What will happen next?
The attack will obviously end soon. If the attacker is not Satoshi Nakamoto himself with his one million bitcoins, the resources to continue the attack will soon be depleted, since when a queue arises, network clients automatically increase the amount of commission required for a quick passage. Therefore, for an effective attack, the attacker also has to increase payments to miners.
When the attack will end, we cannot say now. But let's hope that the mysterious "tester" will declare himself and explain the reasons for his actions. Perhaps this will speed up the release of the patch that increases the maximum block size - the problem is now obvious to everyone.
As for the incompatibility of block versions and the possible bifurcation of the chain, it is not so acute, but it can turn out to be more serious. Most of the pools, after a warning from the developers, updated their wallets, but the two largest Chinese pools, together with up to 40% of the total capacity, have not yet been updated and it is not known when they will. This behavior can cause not only technical problems that the network can deal with with relative ease, but also damage Bitcoin's reputation. Obviously, the self-regulation mechanisms of the network are not very effective against large miners. You can only ignore them - by reducing security or increasing the number of confirmations.
Despite all the difficulties described above and the slowdown in the passage of many transactions, the Bitcoin network continues to work, and this is the main thing. The cryptocurrency has shown that it can withstand fairly serious attacks, although many technical aspects need serious work.
However, it is not only free decentralized systems that suffer from technical flaws. Ironically, just today, due to a technical failure, one of the largest trading floors in the world, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), was shut down for several hours. According to media reports, the reason was a failed update of some systems. No one in the world is immune from such troubles.
