Not found means the explorer's node has the transaction in neither a block nor its mempool right now. That is all it means. In order of likelihood it is a pasted ID that is not a Bitcoin txid, the wrong chain, a few seconds of propagation delay, a broadcast that never happened, or a transaction dropped after fourteen days. Only the last two need action, and your coins have not moved in any of them.
The message is short and it sounds final. Transaction not found. People read it as the transaction failed, or the coins are lost, or the wallet lied. None of those is what the explorer said.
An explorer is one node with a web page in front of it. When it says not found, it is reporting on its own memory: the transaction is not in any block it knows and not in its mempool at this moment. That is a statement about one computer's view right now. Five different situations produce it, and they are easy to tell apart if you check them in order.
What each explorer actually says
The wording differs, the meaning does not. We queried each service with a transaction ID that does not exist and recorded the exact response.
| Explorer | Exact response | Note |
|---|---|---|
| mempool.space | "Transaction not found" | Same text for the page and the API, status 404 |
| blockstream.info | "Transaction not found" | Same software as mempool.space |
| btcscan.org | "Transaction not found" | Same software again |
| Blockchain.com | "Item not found or argument invalid" | One message for both a missing txid and a malformed one |
| BlockCypher | "Transaction ... not found." | Repeats the ID you pasted |
| Any of them | "Invalid hex hash" or similar | You did not paste a txid at all |
That last row matters more than it looks. The explorers running Esplora software give a different error for a string that is not sixty four hexadecimal characters. If you see invalid rather than not found, skip straight to check one.
Check one: is it a Bitcoin transaction ID at all?
A Bitcoin txid is exactly sixty four characters, each one a digit from 0 to 9 or a letter from a to f. Nothing else. The things people paste into explorers that are not txids:
- An address. Starts with 1, 3 or bc1 and is shorter. Paste it in the explorer's address search instead and the transaction will be listed under it.
- An exchange's internal reference. Withdrawal IDs, order numbers and ticket numbers are not on the blockchain. Ask the exchange for the txid specifically.
- A hash with 0x in front. That prefix belongs to Ethereum and its relatives. If the exchange gave you a 0x hash, the coins were not sent as Bitcoin.
- A Lightning payment hash. Also sixty four hex characters, which is the cruel part. A Lightning payment never appears on a block explorer because it never touched the chain. If the sender used Lightning, there is no on chain transaction to find.
- A truncated copy. Mobile copy and paste drops characters. Count them.
Check two: is it the right chain?
Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin and Bitcoin testnet all use sixty four character txids that look identical to Bitcoin's. An exchange that sent BCH when you expected BTC produces a perfect not found on every Bitcoin explorer, and the coins are sitting on a different chain. Paste the txid into a Bitcoin Cash explorer. If it appears there, the problem is the asset, not the network, and the conversation is with the sender.
Likewise, a wallet set to testnet or signet builds real looking transactions that no mainnet explorer will ever find. Check the wallet's network setting before anything else.
Check three: has it had time to propagate?
A freshly broadcast transaction reaches most of the network within a few seconds, but not every explorer at the same instant, and some explorers cache a not found for a short while. If you pasted the txid within a minute of sending, wait a minute and try a second explorer. If mempool.space has it and Blockchain.com does not, the transaction is fine and one site is behind.
The reverse pattern is more telling. A transaction your own node shows that no public explorer can see, for more than a few minutes, usually means your node accepted something the rest of the network will not relay, or your node never connected outward. That moves you to check four.
Ask twenty nodes at once
Paste the txid and the scope reports which nodes hold it, which never saw it, and whether it is confirmed, in a few seconds.
Check four: did the broadcast ever happen?
This is the first cause that needs action. Your wallet shows the transaction as sent or pending. Every explorer says not found, and has said so from the start. The transaction was built and signed on your device, and the step that hands it to the network failed quietly.
Common reasons: the connection dropped at the moment of sending, the wallet talks to a single server that was down, a firewall blocked outbound peer connections, or the node it reached rejected the transaction on a policy rule while the wallet reported success anyway.
The signature of this case is that the transaction has never been visible anywhere. Not briefly, not on one explorer, nowhere. The fix is to broadcast it yourself. Your wallet holds the signed transaction, and most wallets can show its raw hex or offer a rebroadcast option. Push that hex to many nodes at once, through the relay on this site or by hand against any explorer's broadcast endpoint. This is the one situation where rebroadcasting genuinely does something.
Check five: was it dropped?
The transaction was visible for a while, perhaps days, and then explorers stopped finding it. Two mechanisms do this. Most nodes discard an unconfirmed transaction after 336 hours, fourteen days. Separately, a node whose mempool hits its 300 MB memory limit evicts the lowest paying transactions early. A transaction priced near the 0.1 sat/vB relay floor, where most of today's stuck transactions sit, is a candidate for both.
Nothing was lost. An unconfirmed transaction never moved anything, and when it is forgotten the coins are spendable again from the sending wallet. You then have a choice: rebroadcast the same transaction, which will sit at the same hopeless fee and get dropped again, or make a new payment at a rate that clears. Make the new payment. The guide to vanished transactions covers the recovery in detail, including the case where some nodes still hold the old copy.
The thing to hold onto
In all five cases your coins are exactly where they were before you pressed send. Not found is never a statement about your balance. The only transactions that move coins are the ones in blocks, and a transaction in a block is never not found.
Not found versus unconfirmed versus confirmed
Three states, and they are often confused in forum posts.
| Explorer shows | Where the transaction is | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Not found | Nowhere this node knows of | Run the five checks above |
| Unconfirmed | In the mempool, waiting for a block | Compare the fee rate to the next block rate |
| Confirmed | In a block, permanent | Nothing. If a service still shows pending, it is their confirmation threshold |
If your transaction is unconfirmed rather than not found, this is the wrong guide. The hour by hour guide reads a pending transaction off the clock, and the stuck transaction guide ranks the causes.
When the sender is an exchange
The most common not found of all: an exchange says your withdrawal is complete, you paste what it gave you, and nothing appears. Nine times out of ten the string is an internal reference rather than a txid, or the withdrawal is still queued inside the exchange and has not been broadcast. Ask support for the sixty four character transaction hash. If they cannot produce one, the network has not received anything and no explorer, accelerator or rebroadcast can help. The exchange withdrawal guide walks through this by platform.
The bottom line
Count the characters, check the chain, wait a minute and try a second explorer. If it is still not found and your wallet still shows it, the broadcast never happened or the transaction was dropped. Rebroadcast a never sent transaction, replace a dropped one with a sensible fee, and in every case stop worrying about the coins, because an explorer that cannot find a transaction has told you nothing about them.
Twenty nodes, one answer
Paste the txid or the raw hex. We report which nodes hold it, push it to the ones that do not, and tell you whether anything else is needed.
Frequently asked questions
What does transaction not found mean on a Bitcoin explorer?
The explorer's node has the transaction in neither a block nor its mempool at that moment. It says nothing about your coins. The causes, in order of likelihood, are a pasted string that is not a Bitcoin txid, the wrong chain, a short propagation delay, a broadcast that never happened, or a transaction dropped after fourteen days.
Why does mempool.space say transaction not found when my wallet shows it as sent?
Your wallet built and signed the transaction but the step that hands it to the network failed quietly, or the transaction was dropped after sitting unconfirmed for fourteen days. In both cases no node is holding it. Rebroadcast the raw transaction from your wallet to many nodes, or if it was dropped for a low fee, send a new payment at a rate that clears.
Are my bitcoins lost if the transaction is not found?
No. Only a transaction in a block moves coins, and a transaction in a block is never not found. An unconfirmed or never broadcast transaction has not spent anything. The coins are still controlled by the sending wallet.
Why does the exchange's transaction ID show not found?
Most often the string the exchange gave you is an internal withdrawal reference rather than a Bitcoin txid, or the withdrawal is still queued inside the exchange and has not been broadcast. Ask support for the sixty four character transaction hash. If they cannot give you one, the network has not received anything yet.
How long should I wait before worrying about transaction not found?
A minute or two. A fresh transaction reaches most nodes within seconds, but explorers can lag or cache a miss briefly. If a second explorer finds it, the first was behind. If no explorer finds it after a few minutes and your wallet shows it as sent, the broadcast did not happen.
Can I rebroadcast a transaction that is not found?
Yes, if you have the signed raw transaction, which your wallet usually holds. Paste the raw hex into a broadcast tool that pushes it to many nodes. This is the one situation where rebroadcasting genuinely helps. If the transaction was dropped because its fee was too low, rebroadcasting it unchanged will get it dropped again; send a new payment at a higher rate instead.