Timelock
Smart Contracts● Common
A restriction preventing a transaction or output from being spent until a certain time or block height. Absolute timelocks (CLTV) set a specific unlock time. Relative timelocks (CSV) set time since the output was confirmed. Essential for Lightning, vaults, and inheritance planning.
Technical Notes
nLocktime: transaction-level, absolute. OP_CHECKLOCKTIMEVERIFY (CLTV, BIP-65): script-level absolute. OP_CHECKSEQUENCEVERIFY (CSV, BIP-112): relative to confirmation. nSequence encodes relative time. Time can be block height (<500M) or Unix timestamp.
Metadata
Visibility: Public
Created:1/3/2026by System