ROUTE 01 / Start here
I send a transaction
Follow an instruction from your wallet to a shared, settled history.
A wallet does not send a coin-shaped file across the internet. It creates an instruction that other computers can verify. Follow each handoff, and notice the difference between authorizing a transfer, seeing it included, and deciding that it is sufficiently settled.
- 01
What a wallet actually does
Prepare the instruction
Start with the interface that constructs a transaction. The balance belongs to the network’s records, not to the app.
- 02
Authorize a particular action
A signature proves authorization for specific data. It does not prove that the destination is trustworthy.
- 03
A transaction from intent to settlement
Broadcast and validate
Nodes check signatures, available funds, and protocol rules before passing an instruction along.
- 04
Gas, fees and failed execution
Account for execution
Fees buy limited block resources. A failed execution can still consume resources.
- 05
Find a place in history
An accepted transaction is ordered within a block, with consequences for the resulting state.
- 06
Decide what settled means
Inclusion and finality are different milestones. Security assumptions depend on the network.
CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING
Is a transaction final as soon as a wallet shows it as pending?
Reveal the explanation
No. Pending means it has not yet been accepted into the relevant chain. Even an included transaction may be reorganized before the network’s finality conditions or a recipient’s confirmation policy are satisfied.