Explanation of Zero Balance after Withdrawing BTC or LTC from Mixin Safe
When withdrawing a portion of your Bitcoin (BTC) or Litecoin (LTC) from Mixin Safe, you might notice your balance temporarily showing zero. This is a regular occurrence caused by the blockchain's "change mechanism," and does not mean your funds are lost.
Bitcoin and Litecoin networks use the Unspent Transaction Output (UTXO) model, where each UTXO can only be spent in full and not partially. When making a withdrawal, your wallet uses one or multiple UTXOs as inputs to fulfill the withdrawal amount.
If the available UTXOs exceed your withdrawal amount, the excess funds are returned to your wallet address as "change."
Seeing a zero balance after withdrawal does not indicate a loss of funds. It simply means the original funds from your address have been entirely transferred to a new "change" address. The updated balance will become visible after the transaction is confirmed.
Since Mixin Safe requires 3 block confirmations for BTC and 12 block confirmations for LTC, your updated balance, including change, typically appears within approximately 30 minutes.
What is the "Change Mechanism"?
Bitcoin and Litecoin networks use the Unspent Transaction Output (UTXO) model, where each UTXO can only be spent in full and not partially. When making a withdrawal, your wallet uses one or multiple UTXOs as inputs to fulfill the withdrawal amount.
If the available UTXOs exceed your withdrawal amount, the excess funds are returned to your wallet address as "change."
Why Does the Balance Show as Zero?
Seeing a zero balance after withdrawal does not indicate a loss of funds. It simply means the original funds from your address have been entirely transferred to a new "change" address. The updated balance will become visible after the transaction is confirmed.
Since Mixin Safe requires 3 block confirmations for BTC and 12 block confirmations for LTC, your updated balance, including change, typically appears within approximately 30 minutes.
Updated on: 31/03/2025