For everyone / Pickle in plain terms
When is it confirmed
Most of the time a wallet says pending and then says done. Here there are three separate moments between those two words, and they guarantee different things.
Three moments
| Moment | What it is |
|---|---|
| Preconfirmation | signed mini-block10 ms scheduling target. The sequencer has committed to this ordering and this outcome |
| Confirmation | EVM block250 ms scheduling target. What wallets and explorers see |
| Finality | Ethereum settlementthe data needed to re-derive the block is committed to Ethereum, and that commitment is itself final |
Think of posting a letter at a counter with a very fast clerk. First, the clerk reads it, works out the answer and gives you a signed receipt: that is the preconfirmation, and it happens almost as soon as you hand the letter over. A little later the clerk files it in the day's ledger, which is what everyone else can look up: that is the confirmation. Finally, a copy of the ledger is sent to a vault outside the shop that nobody in the shop can edit: that is finality. Each step is slower than the last and each one is harder to undo.
Your transaction executes the instant it reaches the sequencer, so the result exists before any block does. At a 10 millisecond scheduling target the sequencer seals a mini-block containing everything executed in that interval and signs it. That signature is the preconfirmation: the sequencer has committed to that ordering and that outcome, and the signed header is evidence against it if a later block contradicted it.
At a 250 millisecond scheduling target the sequencer seals a standard Ethereum-shaped EVM block wrapping that interval's mini-blocks. That is the confirmation: the block a wallet or an explorer shows you, with a block number and a hash.
Finality is Ethereum settlement. A block is final when the data needed to re-derive it has been committed to Ethereum and that commitment is itself final. Only at that point does the record stop depending on the sequencer at all.
Execution is synchronous with admission, so a receipt exists before the containing block is sealed. A mini-block at the 10 ms scheduling target carries the interval's transactions, receipts and logs, a state-diff hash, a microsecond timestamp and a signature by the sequencer key over the header; it is exposed over its own RPC methods and a WebSocket subscription so a latency-sensitive application can act on it. An EVM block at the 250 ms scheduling target wraps the interval's mini-blocks with the next block's timestamp fixed at the previous seal, which is what lets independent re-execution reproduce the block hash. Finality is the L1 inbox commitment naming the block's derivation payload, itself final on Ethereum. The mini-block interval is a consensus parameter, not an operator tuning knob, because a replica has to agree on how the stream is cut.
Both intervals are scheduling targets rather than latency guarantees, and neither is a throughput claim. They describe the rhythm the sequencer aims for, not a deadline it meets on every tick.
What each one guarantees
- A preconfirmation proves the sequencer said this happened, in this order, with this result. It rests on the sequencer's honesty, and it is evidence: a signed header that a later block contradicted would show the sequencer broke its word.
- A confirmation puts the transaction in the canonical block sequence every tool understands. It still rests on the sequencer, which is the only party sealing blocks.
- Finality means the block's contents are committed to from Ethereum. From that point, anyone can re-derive the block from public data, and the sequencer cannot rewrite it without the divergence being detectable by every replica.
When the difference matters
For most of what a person does, the preconfirmation is the moment that matters: an application can show the result, and the result will not change unless the sequencer contradicts its own signature. A game, a trading interface or a payment at a counter can act on it.
The confirmation is what ordinary tools report, so it is the moment a wallet shows as done. Finality is the moment for anything that must not depend on the sequencer at all: a withdrawal to Ethereum through the bridge is revalidated against a finalised canonical receipt before funds are released, for exactly this reason.
The words you will see
- Pending: the wallet has sent it and has not yet seen a block. On Pickle this is usually shorter than the wallet's own refresh.
- Preconfirmed: an application that reads mini-blocks says the sequencer has signed for it.
- Confirmed: it is in an EVM block with a number.
- Final: its block's data is committed to from Ethereum. This site uses the word for nothing else.