How Do You Fix a Stuck Cardano Transaction in Daedalus or Eternl?

11 October 2026

A stuck Cardano transaction is one that has been submitted to the network but never confirms. In most cases, the fix is to wait for the transaction to expire automatically, then resubmit it with a higher fee or from a wallet that has fully synced. You do not need to contact support or use any third-party tool.

Why a cardano transaction gets stuck

Cardano uses an unspent transaction output (UTXO) model. When you send ADA or a native asset, your wallet selects some of your existing UTXOs as inputs, creates outputs to the recipient and back to you as change, and signs the whole thing. The transaction is broadcast to the network, where a pool includes it in a block.

A transaction can get stuck for a few reasons:

• Low fee. If the fee you set is too low relative to current network demand, pools may ignore it in favor of more profitable transactions. This is rare on Cardano because fees are deterministic (a base fee plus a per-byte fee), not auction-based like on Ethereum. But it can happen if the network is congested.

• Wallet not fully synced. Daedalus is a full-node wallet. If it has not finished downloading and verifying the blockchain, it may construct a transaction that references UTXOs it thinks are unspent, but that have already been spent in a recent block the wallet has not seen. The network rejects the transaction, and your wallet may keep retrying with the same invalid inputs.

• Minting or burning a native asset incorrectly. If you are minting or burning a native asset, the transaction must include the correct policy ID, asset name, quantity, and a valid minting script (usually a time-lock). A mistake in any of these fields produces a transaction that no pool can validate.

• Hardware wallet communication issue. If you are signing with a Ledger or Trezor, a dropped USB or Bluetooth connection can leave the transaction signed but never broadcast.

• Transaction already spent. If you have two wallets sharing the same seed (for example, Daedalus and Eternl using the same recovery phrase), one wallet might spend a UTXO while the other wallet is still trying to use it in a pending transaction. The second transaction will never confirm.

How to Diagnose a Stuck Transaction

Before you do anything, find the transaction ID (tx hash). In Daedalus, go to the Transactions tab and click on the pending transaction. In Eternl, open the transaction history and look for a status of "Pending" or "Awaiting Confirmation." Copy the tx hash.

Open a Cardano block explorer such as Cardanoscan or Cexplorer. Paste the tx hash into the search bar. If the explorer shows no record of the transaction, it was never accepted by any pool. If it shows "0 confirmations" or is not found at all, the transaction is still pending or was rejected.

Step-by-Step Fixes

Try these in order. Most stuck transactions resolve at step 1.

1. Wait for the transaction to expire

Cardano transactions have a time-to-live (TTL) parameter, usually set by the wallet to a few hours ahead. If the transaction is not included in a block before the TTL expires, it is dropped from the mempool. This is automatic. No one needs to cancel it.

For Daedalus: keep the wallet open and fully synced. The wallet will automatically mark the transaction as failed after the TTL passes, and the ADA or assets will reappear in your balance.

For Eternl: the wallet checks the network periodically. If the TTL has expired, the pending transaction will disappear, and your balance will be restored.

How long to wait: Usually between 2 and 6 hours, depending on the TTL your wallet set. If you are in a hurry, you can force the issue by restarting the wallet after the TTL has passed.

2. Restart the wallet after a full sync

If your wallet was not fully synced when you submitted the transaction, restart it and wait until it is 100% synced. For Daedalus, this means the progress bar in the bottom left shows "100%" and the network status says "Connected." For Eternl, check the network indicator in the top bar.

Once synced, the wallet will re-evaluate its UTXO set. If the transaction was rejected because it referenced a spent UTXO, the wallet will drop the pending transaction and restore the balance.

3. Resubmit with a higher fee

If the transaction is still pending after the TTL has expired, you can resubmit it. Neither Daedalus nor Eternl lets you "bump" the fee on an existing transaction (unlike Ethereum's replace-by-fee). You have to create a new transaction from scratch.

• In Daedalus: the wallet will automatically let you send again once the old transaction has expired. You do not need to do anything special.
• In Eternl: after the pending transaction disappears, create a new send. Eternl lets you manually adjust the fee. Set it slightly higher than the default - add a few tenths of an ADA. This is rarely necessary on Cardano but can help during brief congestion.

4. Check for hardware wallet issues

If you are using a Ledger or Trezor:

• Make sure the device is connected, unlocked, and the Cardano app is open.
• In Eternl, go to Settings and check that the wallet is properly paired.
• If the transaction was signed but never broadcast, you may see a "Signed but not submitted" status. Eternl has a "Resubmit" option for these. Click it.
• If the hardware wallet shows an error during signing, the transaction was not signed. Cancel and start over.

5. Clear the wallet cache (Daedalus only)

Daedalus stores blockchain data locally. If the database is corrupted or out of sync, it can cause persistent issues.

• Go to File -> "Delete Local Blockchain Data" (or "Wallet Recovery" on older versions).
• Daedalus will restart and re-download the blockchain from scratch. This takes several hours and requires a good internet connection.
• After the resync, your pending transactions will be cleared.

What not to do

• Do not send the same transaction again while the first one is pending. You might double-spend or create a conflict that leaves both stuck.
• Do not use a third-party "transaction accelerator" or "cancellation service." Cardano has no such mechanism, and anyone offering one is a scam.
• Do not delete your wallet or recovery phrase. The problem is with the transaction, not the wallet. Deleting the wallet will not fix the transaction and may cause you to lose access to your funds if you lose the seed.

When to seek help

If the transaction has been pending for more than 24 hours and none of the above steps worked, visit the official Cardano forum or the support channels for your wallet (Daedalus on GitHub, Eternl on their Discord). Provide the tx hash and describe what you have tried. Do not share your seed phrase or private keys with anyone.

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