What Is Confirmed in Solana?
Confirmed is the middle commitment level in Solana. A block reaches confirmed status when a supermajority (66.7%+) of the network’s stake has voted on it. At this point, rollback is extremely unlikely but not technically impossible.
What confirmed means
A confirmed block has received votes from validators representing more than two-thirds of the total active stake. This makes it highly probable that the block will be finalized, but it has not yet reached maximum lockout in the Tower BFT consensus.
Confirmed vs finalized
Confirmed is faster than finalized (seconds vs tens of seconds) but carries a theoretical rollback risk. In practice, confirmed blocks are almost never rolled back — it would require more than one-third of stake to vote against the supermajority, which would be a consensus-breaking event.
When to use confirmed
Confirmed is the best balance of speed and safety for most applications:
- Payment confirmations in e-commerce
- Updating application state after a user action
- Transaction tracking in dashboards
- Swap and trade confirmations in non-HFT applications
FAQ
How long does it take to reach confirmed? Typically 6–12 seconds after the block is produced, depending on network conditions and vote propagation.
Can a confirmed block be rolled back? Theoretically yes, but in practice it requires a catastrophic consensus failure. No confirmed block has been rolled back under normal network conditions.
Should I use confirmed or finalized? Use confirmed for most applications. Use finalized for high-value transactions where absolute certainty is required (large transfers, bridge operations).
Updated: