You sent PRL, the wallet says pending, and nothing has happened for a while. A Pearl transaction stuck as unconfirmed is annoying but rarely dangerous: your coins have not gone anywhere yet. This guide explains why it happens, how to check what is going on, and how to speed it up or cancel it.
Why a PRL transaction stays pending
Pearl works like Bitcoin. A new transaction waits in the mempool, the pool of unconfirmed transactions each node keeps, until a miner includes it in a block. Miners fill blocks with the transactions that pay the most per byte, so the fee rate (in sat/vB) decides how soon you get in.
- Fee too low. The most common cause. If more people are sending than a block can hold, the cheapest transactions wait.
- Never broadcast. The wallet or exchange built the transaction but the network never accepted it, for example after a connection drop or a rejected transaction.
- Waiting on a parent. A transaction that spends coins from another unconfirmed transaction cannot confirm before its parent does.
- Normal wait. Pearl blocks come every few minutes, not every few seconds. A payment that is ten minutes old may simply be waiting for its next block. See what Pearl is for how the chain works.
Check the transaction on the explorer
Every Pearl transaction has a transaction ID (txid), a 64-character hex string. In Oyster, open the payment in Activity and tap View on the Pearl explorer. Otherwise, paste the txid into explorer.pearlresearch.ai.
| What the explorer shows | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Confirmed, 1 or more confirmations | The payment is done | Nothing. If the recipient does not see it, they may be waiting for more confirmations |
| Unconfirmed, in the mempool | Waiting for a miner | Wait, or speed it up with a higher fee |
| Not found | The network does not know about it | Your coins have not moved. Refresh your wallet and send again |
Compare the fee rate on the explorer with the rates your wallet currently suggests. If yours is well below the current “fast” rate, the fee is the reason it is waiting.
How to speed up a Pearl transaction
Pearl nodes support replace-by-fee (RBF): you can broadcast a new version of an unconfirmed transaction that spends the same coins at a higher fee rate, and nodes swap the old one out. The replacement must pay a strictly higher fee rate than the original, and enough extra total fee to cover its own size.
In Oyster
- Open Activity and tap the pending send.
- Tap Speed up and choose a higher fee rate than the one it was sent with.
- Review the new fee and confirm. The replacement gets a new txid; the old one disappears.
Every send made by Oyster signals replace-by-fee, so this works for Oyster’s own payments. The recipient still gets exactly the same amount. The extra fee comes out of your change, and if the change is too small, Oyster adds another confirmed coin from your wallet.
Oyster will refuse to speed up a transaction when:
- it has already confirmed (there is nothing left to replace),
- its change has already been spent by a newer send,
- it spends coins this wallet does not control, or was not built the way Oyster builds sends.
In other wallets and on exchanges
Wallets that support RBF usually call it “bump fee” or “speed up”. If a withdrawal from an exchange or pool is stuck, only they can bump it, because they hold the keys that signed it. Contact their support with the txid. See choosing a Pearl wallet for how the main wallets compare.
How to cancel a PRL transaction
There is no undo button on a blockchain. What you can do is replace an unconfirmed payment with one that sends the same coins back to yourself at a higher fee. If the replacement confirms, the original can never confirm.
- In Oyster, open the pending send in Activity.
- Tap Cancel payment and confirm the higher fee.
- Watch for the replacement to confirm. Your coins, minus the fee, are back in your own address.
How to avoid stuck transactions
- Pick the right fee. Oyster offers Slow (about 30 minutes), Normal (about 10 minutes) and Fast (next block), or a custom rate from 1 to 5000 sat/vB. Use Fast when timing matters.
- Do not chain sends. Sending again while an earlier payment is unconfirmed can tie the two together. Wait for the first to confirm when you can.
- Double-check the address. Speeding up fixes slow payments, not wrong ones. Pearl addresses start with
prl1; see Pearl scams and fake tokens for the look-alikes.
Still stuck?
If the explorer shows the transaction unconfirmed for a long time and your wallet will not bump it, wait. Until it confirms, your coins have not moved. A transaction that is never mined can also fall out of nodes’ mempools, after which the coins show as spendable in your wallet again. If it was a withdrawal to you from somewhere else, the steps in the Oyster troubleshooting docs and the sending guide cover the details.
Frequently asked questions
Why is my Pearl transaction still pending?
Almost always because its fee rate is lower than what miners are picking up right now, so newer transactions with higher fees are mined first. Less often, it was never broadcast, or it depends on another unconfirmed transaction that is also waiting.
Can I cancel a PRL transaction?
Only while it is unconfirmed, and only by replacing it with a new transaction that spends the same coins at a higher fee. In Oyster that is Cancel payment, which sends the coins back to your own address. If the original confirms first, the payment stands. A confirmed transaction cannot be undone by anyone.
How do I speed up a stuck PRL transaction?
If your wallet supports replace-by-fee, re-send the same payment at a higher fee rate. In Oyster, open the pending send in Activity and tap Speed up. The recipient still gets the same amount; the extra fee comes out of your change.
Will a stuck Pearl transaction lose my coins?
No. Until it confirms, the coins have not moved on chain. Either the transaction confirms and the payment is made, or it is replaced or falls out of the mempool and the coins stay spendable by your wallet.
