Panicked Bitcoiner mistakenly pays almost $60K BTC in fees

Key Points

  • A Bitcoin user accidentally paid 0.75 BTC in transaction fees due to a replace-by-fee (RBF) error.
  • The transaction was an attempt to change the target address and increase the fee to ensure processing.
  • The error likely stemmed from haste or confusion over fee settings in the wallet software.

Summary

In a recent incident, a Bitcoin user mistakenly paid nearly 0.75 BTC, equivalent to around $60,000 at the time, in transaction fees due to a panic-induced replace-by-fee (RBF) error. The transaction, which occurred shortly after midnight UTC on April 8, was an attempt to alter the transaction's target address and increase the fee to ensure it was processed over the original transaction. Anmol Jain from AMLBot suggested that the user might have intended to set a fee of 30.5692 satoshis per virtual byte but instead set it at 305,692 satoshis due to haste or confusion. This error resulted in the fee being significantly higher than intended. The incident highlights the complexities and potential pitfalls of manual transaction settings in cryptocurrency wallets, particularly with features like RBF, which allows users to replace unconfirmed transactions with ones offering higher fees. Despite its utility, RBF remains a controversial feature in the Bitcoin community, with debates over its implications for transaction finality and security.

cointelegraph
April 9, 2025
Crypto
Read article

Related news