Transaction confirmation is evidence that a blockchain transaction has been accepted into the ledger and, depending on the network, has received additional blocks, votes, or attestations that increase confidence in its persistence.
Confirmation rules differ across blockchain designs. In proof-of-work systems, users often count blocks built after the block containing a transaction. In proof-of-stake and other consensus systems, confirmation can depend on votes, checkpoints, or finality rules. A transaction can be confirmed before it reaches the system's strongest technical settlement threshold, and technical settlement can still differ from legal finality.
Confirmation is a network-status concept. Payment finality concerns the point at which settlement becomes legally irrevocable and unconditional under the applicable rules and law.
Merchants and payment systems use confirmation thresholds to manage reversal risk before treating a stablecoin transfer as sufficiently secure for operational purposes.
A merchant may wait for several network confirmations before releasing goods even though the transaction first appeared on-chain earlier.