Bitcoin User Accidentally Pays $3.1M in Transaction Fees: One of the Largest in Bitcoin History
Summary:
A Bitcoin user mistakenly paid 83.7 Bitcoins (equivalent to $3.1 million) as transaction fees for a transfer of 139.42 BTC. This transaction, collected by the Antpool mining pool, is the 8th largest transaction fee in Bitcoin's 14-year history. Experts suggest that the user might not have been aware of the Replace-By-Fee (RBF) policy, which allows pending transactions to be replaced with ones offering a higher fee for faster processing. This incident mirrors a similar case involving Paxos, a Bitcoin exchange platform that accidentally paid $500,000 in transaction fees for a $2000 transfer.
An individual who uses Bitcoin inadvertently expended 83.7 Bitcoins (BTC), estimating around $3.1 million, as transaction charges for shifting 139.42 BTC. The $3.1 million transaction expense ranks as the 8th largest throughout the 14-year lifespan of Bitcoin. The Bitcoin wallet, identified as bc1qn3d…wekrnl, aimed to dispatch 139.42 BTC to bc1qyf…km36t4 on November 23, but unintentionally paid more than half of the transferred amount as the transaction cost. Only 55.77 BTC made it to the targeted address. The unusually hefty mining fee was gathered by the mining pool Antpool on block 818087.
Social media users speculate the sender consciously picked the massive transaction fee. However, factors like the Replace-By-Fee (RBF) policy and the sender's lack of awareness seem to have contributed. RBF allows an unconfirmed transaction, pending in the mempool, to be substituted with a fresh transaction offering a higher transaction fee for quicker clearance. All Bitcoin transactions are parked in the mempool, awaiting approval to be added to the Bitcoin Blockchain.
An individual familiar with mempool operations, known on Twitter as Mononaut, assumes the person responsible for this dispatch might not have understood that RBF orders can't be retracted. They could've repeatedly changed the fees hoping to slacken it. The RBF records suggest the final replacement augmented the fee by another 20%, adding an additional 12.54824636 BTC to the charges.
It isn't the first time a Bitcoin user has mistakenly paid an exorbitant transaction fee for a lone Bitcoin transaction. In September, Paxos, a Bitcoin exchange platform, accidentally spent $500,000 as transaction charges for transferring Bitcoin worth $2000. The accidental fee was returned to Paxos by f2pool, the miner who verified the transaction.
Mononaut communicated to Cointelegraph and said the current accidental transaction fee case has resemblances with the Paxos incident, but the likelihood of the funds being returned by Antpool depends on their own payout regulations, which may impact their obligations towards sharing transaction costs with their miners. Antpool has remained silent regarding the matter and has not responded to requests for comments made by Cointelegraph.
Published At
11/23/2023 1:50:13 PM
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