<p>Because the exchanges are in possession of confirmed bitcoins from the get go. Mtgox makes you wait about a full hour before you are accredited deposited bitcoins to get those 6 confirms. And to exchange it they just decrement the person's account's bitcoin balance and increment the fiat balance (according to whichever market order).</p>

<p>On coinbase they just decrement your account balance and send fiat to your bank account simultaneously.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-01-20T19:32:50.057Z
So buyer buys TShirt from retailer. Coinbase convert retailer's bitcoins into cash and reduces retailer's bitcoins by corresponding amount, in addition to waiting for buyer's bitcoins to be verified before crediting retailer's account. But then what happens if buyer has double spent? Then we get instant conversion, but we don't have 100% safety.
user12404
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-01-20T22:23:46.930Z
It's not an instant conversion, coinbase converts when they feel it's safe from double spend or has allowable risk (they can afford to loose a few bitcoins each month).
John T
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-12-14T15:39:21.690Z
oh tell me more about this mt gox exchange it sounds exciting!
bharal
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-01-19T23:11:56.853Z
2014-01-19T23:11:56.853Z
John T
<p>My question is : how can some exchanges instantaneously convert bitcoins into cash, in light of the fact that it takes 10 minutes to &quot;validate&quot; a bitcoin transaction?</p>
<p>A bitcoin transaction takes 10 minutes to &quot;validate&quot;. Yet some exchanges like coinbase allow merchants to instantaneously convert bitcoin payments into cash. In <a href="https://coinbase.com/docs/merchant_tools/payouts" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Automatically cash out bitcoin with zero exchange rate risk</a> it mentions that :</p>
<blockquote>
<p>When you enable &quot;instant exchanges&quot;, bitcoin you receive for merchant
orders will no longer be sent to your Coinbase wallet. Instead they
will be sent directly to Coinbase and exchanged, ensuring that you get
the the exact local currency price that you set in the merchant tools.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>When a person buys a product, then even though the purchasers bitcoin is sent directly to Coinbase, will it not be the case that it takes 10 minutes to validate, since it is just another bitcoin transaction? If so then how do exchanges like Coinbase allow one to convert bitcoins to cash immediately?</p>

<exchanges><sell-bitcoins><zero-confirmation>
Instantaneous exchange/conversion of bitcoin into cash
user12404
# Instantaneous exchange/conversion of bitcoin into cash

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-01-19)

My question is : how can some exchanges instantaneously convert bitcoins into cash, in light of the fact that it takes 10 minutes to "validate" a bitcoin transaction?

A bitcoin transaction takes 10 minutes to "validate". Yet some exchanges like coinbase allow merchants to instantaneously convert bitcoin payments into cash. In [Automatically cash out bitcoin with zero exchange rate risk](https://coinbase.com/docs/merchant_tools/payouts) it mentions that :

> When you enable "instant exchanges", bitcoin you receive for merchant
> orders will no longer be sent to your Coinbase wallet. Instead they
> will be sent directly to Coinbase and exchanged, ensuring that you get
> the the exact local currency price that you set in the merchant tools.

When a person buys a product, then even though the purchasers bitcoin is sent directly to Coinbase, will it not be the case that it takes 10 minutes to validate, since it is just another bitcoin transaction? If so then how do exchanges like Coinbase allow one to convert bitcoins to cash immediately?

**Tags:** exchanges, sell-bitcoins, zero-confirmation


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2014-01-19. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

Because the exchanges are in possession of confirmed bitcoins from the get go. Mtgox makes you wait about a full hour before you are accredited deposited bitcoins to get those 6 confirms. And to exchange it they just decrement the person's account's bitcoin balance and increment the fiat balance (according to whichever market order).

On coinbase they just decrement your account balance and send fiat to your bank account simultaneously.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: So buyer buys TShirt from retailer. Coinbase convert retailer's bitcoins into cash and reduces retailer's bitcoins by corresponding amount, in addition to waiting for buyer's bitcoins to be verified before crediting retailer's account. But then what happens if buyer has double spent? Then we get instant conversion, but we don't have 100% safety.  
> **username_1**: It's not an instant conversion, coinbase converts when they feel it's safe from double spend or has allowable risk (they can afford to loose a few bitcoins each month).  
> **username_2**: oh tell me more about this mt gox exchange it sounds exciting!  

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