# What is a transaction? Nonces, gas, and confirmation

> Canonical: https://blazephoenix.xyz/learn/what-is-a-transaction
> License: CC BY 4.0 (attribution + link) · © 2026 BlazePhoenix
> Updated: 2026-08-05



A transaction is a signed instruction from your wallet to the chain: send tokens, call a contract, approve a spend. It carries a nonce, a counter that orders your transactions so none can be replayed or skipped, and a gas budget, the fee you pay for computation. You sign it locally; the network executes it.

## Pending, mined, confirmed

After you sign, the transaction sits in a mempool until a block includes it. Once included it is mined; as more blocks stack on top it becomes progressively harder to reverse, which is confirmation. If a transaction is stuck, it is usually a too-low fee or a nonce gap. A failed transaction still costs gas, because the network did the work of trying.

**Verify it yourself:** Send a tiny swap, copy the tx hash, and watch it move from pending to confirmed on basescan.org — the nonce and gas used are shown on the page

Related: https://blazephoenix.xyz/learn/gas-fees-explained · https://blazephoenix.xyz/learn/what-is-finality · https://blazephoenix.xyz/learn/what-is-a-smart-contract