---
summary: 'a special transaction where the recipient can only spend the funds after a future date, as set by the sender'
terms: ["unlock-time"]
---

{% include disclaimer.html translated="no" translationOutdated="no" %}

### The Basics

A special transaction where the recipient can only spend the funds after a
future date, as set by the sender.

Unlock time allows you to send a transaction to someone, such that they can
not spend it until after a certain number of blocks, or until a certain
time.

Note that this works differently than Bitcoin's
[nLockTime](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/NLockTime), in which the transaction
is not valid until the given time.