Confirmation
A confirmation is a block added to a blockchain that includes your transaction or builds on top of it, and each extra one makes the payment harder to reverse.
Also called block confirmation, confirmations, network confirmation
When you send crypto, the transaction first waits unconfirmed. Once it is included in a block, it has one confirmation. Each new block after that adds another. Casinos wait for a set number before they credit a deposit, because a transaction buried under more blocks is harder to undo.
Example. A casino credits Bitcoin deposits after 2 confirmations. Bitcoin blocks arrive about every 10 minutes on average, so expect around 20 minutes, sometimes a lot more or less. On a chain where blocks arrive every few seconds, the same casino may ask for many more confirmations and still credit you sooner.
What people get wrong. "Sent" in your wallet is not "received" at the casino. Until the required confirmations are in, the casino will not show the balance, and support cannot speed up the blockchain. The usual causes of a slow deposit are a busy network or a network fee set too low. You can follow progress yourself by pasting the transaction hash (TXID) into a block explorer.
The number needed is the casino's choice and differs by coin. A confirmed transaction cannot be cancelled or charged back, so check the address and network before you send.
Related terms
- Network fee
A network fee is what a blockchain charges to process a transaction, and it is set by the network and how busy it is, not by the casino.
- Stablecoin
A stablecoin is a crypto token designed to hold a steady value, most often one US dollar, such as USDT or USDC.
- Hot wallet
A hot wallet is a crypto wallet whose keys are kept on a device or server connected to the internet, which makes it quick to use but easier to attack.
- Hash
A hash is a fixed-length fingerprint of some data, where the same input always gives the same hash but the hash cannot be turned back into the input.