<blockquote>
  <p>Does bitcoin qt need to synch with the network before it will notice the change has been received </p>
</blockquote>

<p>It won't know about the change transaction until it has processed the block containing that transaction. Your change transaction is in a <em>recent</em> block, your bitcoin software is still catching up <em>earlier</em> blocks and hasn't retrieved that recent block yet.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>allow the big transfer to go ahead ...  It is still rebuilding the blockchain</p>
</blockquote>

<p>This seems like a misunderstanding on your part. If the block containing the "transfer" has 6 confirmations, it has already "gone ahead". It is absolutely irrelevant whether your wallet ever catches up or not. In this scenario wallets only ever do two things</p>

<ul>
<li><p>send your transaction out to a few Bitcoin nodes it knows about hoping they will pass it on and that eventually a miner will notice it and include it in a newly mined block.</p></li>
<li><p>keep listening for newly published blocks and reading them to see if they contain any mention of any of the set of addresses the wallet thinks you are interested in (ones it generated for you).</p></li>
</ul>

<p>Wallets do not "allow the transfer to go ahead". As far as the rest of the world is concerned, once your wallet sent out the candidate transaction, your wallet's role in the process ended.</p>

<p>Wallets generally try to dissuade you from using money associated with  transaction outputs the wallet has either not yet seen in a mined block or for which it has not seen at least 6 subsequent blocks built on the block containing the transaction. </p>

<hr>

<p>Footnote:</p>

<p>For simplicity, and to avoid causing confusion, I have omitted possibilities like RBF, double-spending attempts, etc. I am assuming the normal simple process used in most ordinary regular boring plain transactions.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-07-22T15:19:58.920Z
The 3rd bigger transfer doesn’t show up in the blockchain. Only the two small ones do along with paired transfers that people have suggested are probably change.
Bitcoin poor
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-07-22T11:10:31.577Z
2019-07-22T11:33:41.167Z
2019-07-22T11:33:41.167Z
RedGrittyBrick
<p>Sorry for the follow up question... 
i was trying to transfer my btc to a new wallet (believing the original one had been compromised).
I sent 2 tiny test transfers of $1 then when they arrived in the new wallet I sent the rest of my btc.
When I check the blockchain it looks like the two $1 transfers may have generated large ‘change’ transfers.
The big transfer didn’t appear.
Does bitcoin qt need to synch with the network before it will notice the change has been received and allow the big transfer to go ahead? 
It is still rebuilding the blockchain...
Thanks in advance!
P</p>

<p>Additional info: the big transfer has not been confirmed but it looks like my wallet has sent it. The big transfer is not on blockchain.com. Only the first 2 small ones with their paired transactions (possibly change) can be seen.</p>

<p>Any idea why the 3rd transfer isn’t showing up?</p>

<transactions><synchronization><change>
Does bitcoin qt need to synch before I can spend my change?
Bitcoin poor
# Does bitcoin qt need to synch before I can spend my change?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-07-22)

Sorry for the follow up question...
i was trying to transfer my btc to a new wallet (believing the original one had been compromised).
I sent 2 tiny test transfers of $1 then when they arrived in the new wallet I sent the rest of my btc.
When I check the blockchain it looks like the two $1 transfers may have generated large ‘change’ transfers.
The big transfer didn’t appear.
Does username_0 qt need to synch with the network before it will notice the change has been received and allow the big transfer to go ahead?
It is still rebuilding the blockchain...
Thanks in advance!
P

Additional info: the big transfer has not been confirmed but it looks like my wallet has sent it. The big transfer is not on blockchain.com. Only the first 2 small ones with their paired transactions (possibly change) can be seen.

Any idea why the 3rd transfer isn’t showing up?

**Tags:** transactions, synchronization, change


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2019-07-22. Score: 1

> Does username_0 qt need to synch with the network before it will notice the change has been received

It won't know about the change transaction until it has processed the block containing that transaction. Your change transaction is in a *recent* block, your username_0 software is still catching up *earlier* blocks and hasn't retrieved that recent block yet.

> allow the big transfer to go ahead ... It is still rebuilding the blockchain

This seems like a misunderstanding on your part. If the block containing the "transfer" has 6 confirmations, it has already "gone ahead". It is absolutely irrelevant whether your wallet ever catches up or not. In this scenario wallets only ever do two things

* send your transaction out to a few username_0 nodes it knows about hoping they will pass it on and that eventually a miner will notice it and include it in a newly mined block.
* keep listening for newly published blocks and reading them to see if they contain any mention of any of the set of addresses the wallet thinks you are interested in (ones it generated for you).

Wallets do not "allow the transfer to go ahead". As far as the rest of the world is concerned, once your wallet sent out the candidate transaction, your wallet's role in the process ended.

Wallets generally try to dissuade you from using money associated with transaction outputs the wallet has either not yet seen in a mined block or for which it has not seen at least 6 subsequent blocks built on the block containing the transaction.

---

Footnote:

For simplicity, and to avoid causing confusion, I have omitted possibilities like RBF, double-spending attempts, etc. I am assuming the normal simple process used in most ordinary regular boring plain transactions.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: The 3rd bigger transfer doesn’t show up in the blockchain. Only the two small ones do along with paired transfers that people have suggested are probably change.  

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