{"id":1488,"date":"2020-01-27T10:47:17","date_gmt":"2020-01-27T18:47:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.opennode.com\/blog\/?page_id=1488"},"modified":"2021-03-23T11:00:22","modified_gmt":"2021-03-23T18:00:22","slug":"on-chain","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blog.opennode.com\/blog\/glossary\/on-chain\/","title":{"rendered":"On-chain"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> < 1<\/span> minute<\/span><\/span>\n

On-chain<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

On-chain transactions refer to transactions made on the Bitcoin<\/a> blockchain<\/a>, not second layers<\/a> like the Lightning Network<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On-chain transactions are so-called \u201cnormal\u201d Bitcoin transactions that go through all the processes of Bitcoin mining<\/a>. They are the transactions that enter the mempool<\/a>, aggregated into blocks<\/a>, and eventually, every Bitcoin miner<\/a> will mine those blocks and broadcast the transactions to the Bitcoin network<\/a>. Once posted, the on-chain transactions cannot be reversed or altered unless the majority of the network agrees to do so (or a 51% attack<\/a> is successful), which makes them incredibly immutable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are some disadvantages to on-chain transactions. Although they are very secure and verifiable once they make it to the blockchain, they don\u2019t always post instantly. On-chain transactions take more time to confirm the busier the Bitcoin blockchain becomes, which reduces the throughput and overall transaction speed of Bitcoin. On-chain transactions confirm within 10 minutes on average, but that can vary greatly from 1 minute to 1 hour. Slow confirmation times are one of the main criticisms of Bitcoin existing as a global medium of exchange. However, the Lightning Network<\/a> fixes this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On-chain transactions also require a mining fee to incentivize miners into including a given transaction on the next or upcoming block.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Links<\/h2>\n\n\n\n