Skip to main content

Finality

Last updated 17 October 2026Last verified 17 October 2026

What is finality in blockchain?

The point at which a transaction is irreversibly confirmed. Different from confirmation time: a transaction can be included in a block and still be theoretically reversible. Ethereum's proof-of-stake achieves economic finality in roughly 15 minutes, after which reversal would require destroying so much staked capital that no rational attacker would attempt it. For institutional settlement, finality type and time horizon matter more than raw block speed.

TradFi equivalentSettlement finality. The point after which a transfer cannot be unwound, the same distinction TradFi draws between a trade being confirmed and being settled. Here it rests on the cost of reversal rather than on law.