Why your on-chain deposit might not show up immediately
By Lightning Pay
If you’ve sent bitcoin on-chain to your Lightning Pay Wallet and don’t see it appear right away, this can feel worrying — especially if the transaction already shows confirmations on a block explorer.
In most cases, this is completely normal.
The Lightning Pay Wallet is designed to prioritise safety and self-custody. That means incoming on-chain funds are handled carefully before they become available to spend.
This article explains what’s happening behind the scenes, and why a short wait is expected.
How Lightning Pay Wallet handles on-chain deposits
The Lightning Pay Wallet is a self-custodial wallet built for Lightning-first use.
When you generate an on-chain Bitcoin address in the app and someone sends bitcoin to it, a few things happen:
- The bitcoin is sent as a standard on-chain transaction
- The Bitcoin network begins confirming that transaction
- Once it’s sufficiently confirmed, the wallet safely makes those funds available for use
This process is deliberate. It’s designed to protect you from issues like blockchain reorganisations or double-spends, which can occur if funds are used too early.
Why you may need to wait for several confirmations
Seeing one confirmation on a block explorer means your transaction has been included in a block — but it hasn’t reached final settlement yet.
Many Bitcoin wallets and services wait for multiple confirmations before treating incoming funds as safe to use. The Lightning Pay Wallet follows the same principle.
In practice, this means:
- Your transaction may not appear in the wallet immediately
- The wallet may wait for several confirmations before updating your balance
- This usually takes between 30 and 60 minutes, depending on block times
If your transaction has only one or two confirmations, the wallet is simply waiting for more before completing the process.
What to do while you’re waiting
In most cases, no action is required.
You can check the progress of your transaction using a public block explorer if you’d like, but the wallet will update automatically once the required confirmations are reached.
Refreshing the app or reopening it after a few confirmations can help the update appear, but even that usually isn’t necessary.
The important thing to know is this: nothing has gone wrong, and your bitcoin is not lost.
Planning ahead for future deposits
If you need instant access to funds, Lightning payments are the fastest option when the sender supports them.
For larger on-chain deposits, it’s a good idea to plan for a short confirmation wait. This is part of how Bitcoin’s base layer provides strong security without relying on intermediaries.
The Lightning Pay Wallet is optimised for everyday Lightning use, while still giving you full access to on-chain bitcoin when you need it — with the trade-offs clearly reflected.
The takeaway
A short delay before on-chain deposits appear is expected, and it exists to protect you.
This waiting period is a feature of using Bitcoin securely in a self-custodial wallet — not a bug.
If a transaction has far more than the expected number of confirmations and still doesn’t appear (which is rare), you can check for app updates or contact Lightning Pay support for help.
Bitcoin rewards patience. The wallet is built to make that patience worthwhile.