Everyone knows that the Bitcoin network currently has growing pains. Transaction times have slowed and fees are at record highs.
Although there is much debate as to the cause of these backlogs, there are a number of scaling solutions that are currently in the pipes. These include off chain solutions such as the lightning network.
However, are there no options for those users who wanted a quick workaround?
The first option to speed up transactions comes in the form of a transaction accelerator. Transaction accelerators are provided by the mining pools such as ViaBtC.
Although they are a sure way to speed up your transaction, they come with a fee and hence may not be an option for many users.
Yet, if you wanted to get your transactions completed without paying more for it, there are a few things that you can do. This mostly comes down to the user sending the transactions “smartly”.
Potential Free Solutions
Ryan Walker, who is a cryptocurrency enthusiast, took to twitter to provide a neat decision tree for users when sending transactions.
Been helping people learn how #bitcoin transactions can be relatively cheap as long as they aren't URGENT. Made a decision tree to help. Until scaling solutions (lightning, schnorr) arrive you should still rarely ever pay more then $1 to transfer non-urgent transactions. pic.twitter.com/ZnyTMbScxu
— Ryan (@Ry_eli5) December 18, 2017
To start the transaction decision tree, the user must decide whether the tranaction is urgent. When it is not urgent, there are a number of ways that the user can reduce the cost of their transaction.
The other determinants in the tree are whether you are using a Coinbase wallet, whether it is hot / cold storage and whether you are using a hardware wallet or GreenAddress.
Unfortunately for some Coinbase users, there was only one route that could not be bypassed. If you are a Coinbase user and are sending to someone that is not a Coinbase user, you will have to pay the fees irrespective.
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