Why is my Coinbase transaction pending? Just bought some Bitcoin for the first time. Then I tried to transfer some of my purchase from Coinbase to my Blockchain wallet. The sent Bitcoin is pending; Blockchain isn't letting me confirm the transaction. Did I do something wrong? Is there a way to cancel the payment? Thanks!
Bitcoin is [in]famous for being slow to process. This is because of how the block-chain works. Miners have to add your transaction to the next block in order to approve it, and this doesn't happen instantly. Miners will prioritise transactions with higher transaction fees since the money is more incentive to approve it faster. Transactions can take as much as a week to process which is why Bitcoin has issues commercially since you'll buy a coffee, but the transaction might not be processed for days after. It's also why Bitcoin is often described as better for long term investment than day-trading, but it's a trade-off for the added security of the block-chain!