In this track: From send to settlement
A transaction journey illustrated
Connect the full sequence through one fictional payment.
Follow a single note from its writer to a checked notebook page, then to stronger agreement about that page’s place in history.
Maya prepares an instruction: send 0.01 pretend ETH to Leo.
A local simulation. Nothing is signed or sent to a network.
Prepare and sign
Maya chooses a 0.01 ETH payment to Leo on the intended network. Her wallet prepares the value in Wei and the other transaction fields. Authorization produces signed data without publishing Maya’s secret key.
Verify and propagate
A node checks the request and can share it with peers. The sharing scene shows packets traveling to several nodes, each with a local view. A candidate can wait in a local mempool; it does not join a single universal queue.
Include and execute
A proposed block includes a transaction sequence. Nodes independently execute and check it. A successful simple transfer updates balances, while a contract request could produce other effects or revert under its code.
Follow checkpoint agreement
The last scene illustrates validator agreement supporting eventual finality. Real consensus votes concern chain and checkpoint structure, not a separate unanimous vote for each payment. Use the step controls to revisit the boundary between each stage.
Do validators conduct a separate unanimous vote on each payment’s personal desirability?
Nodes enforce validity, and consensus coordinates the chain under protocol rules.
Original explanations by EtherTools. Examples are educational and source-linked; this site is independent of the Ethereum Foundation. Our approach.