Block Confirmations Guide

Block confirmations are crucial for ensuring transaction finality in Ethereum. This guide explains how confirmations work and how to implement them in your applications.

Understanding Confirmations

• What are block confirmations
• Why confirmations matter
• Recommended confirmation counts
• Finality in different networks (mainnet vs testnets)

Implementation Examples

// Check number of confirmations
const getConfirmations = async (txHash) => {
	const tx = await web3.eth.getTransaction(txHash);
	const currentBlock = await web3.eth.getBlockNumber();
	return tx.blockNumber ? currentBlock - tx.blockNumber : 0;
};

// Wait for specific number of confirmations
const waitForConfirmations = async (txHash, confirmations = 6) => {
	while ((await getConfirmations(txHash)) < confirmations) {
		await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 1000));
	}
	return true;
};

Security Considerations

1. Different confirmation requirements for different transaction values
2. Handling chain reorganizations
3. Network-specific considerations
4. Monitoring confirmation progress

See also

• eth_getTransactionReceipt - Get transaction confirmation status
• Working with Blocks - General block handling
• Chain Reorganization Guide - Handling blockchain reorganizations