A Bitcoin user inadvertently paid approximately 0.75 BTC in transaction fees, equating to about $60,000, due to a hasty decision on April 8, 2025. This error occurred when the user attempted to utilize the replace-by-fee (RBF) function to modify an unconfirmed transaction. Initially, the transaction had a modest fee, but upon realizing that it might not be processed quickly enough, the user tried to replace it with a higher fee. In their haste, they mistakenly set the fee excessively high, resulting in the overpayment.
The second RBF transaction totaled 0.75 BTC, comprising 0.48 Bitcoin (valued at around $37,770) and 0.2 BTC of change (worth $16,357). Anmol Jain, vice president of investigations at AMLBot, indicated that this likely arose from a typographical error or mistake when setting the transaction fee. Jain hypothesized that the user meant to set the fee to 30.5692 satoshis but inadvertently entered 305,692 satoshis, causing the wallet to compute a fee significantly higher than anticipated.
The situation may have been exacerbated by the user not adjusting the change address correctly, resulting in nearly 0.75 BTC being sent as part of the fee. Additionally, it’s possible that the user misinterpreted how their Bitcoin wallet calculates fees, leading to an exaggerated correction in their attempt to speed up the transaction confirmation.
RBF is a contentious feature within the Bitcoin ecosystem. It permits users to elevate the fee of an unconfirmed transaction to motivate miners to include it in a block. However, this feature faces criticism for its potential to facilitate double-spending. For instance, Bitcoin Cash removed RBF from its protocol, claiming that unconfirmed transactions should be deemed final and secure. Some Bitcoin developers assert that RBF is essential for expediting transactions, but improper implementation can result in costly errors if users don’t fully grasp fee settings.
In this particular case, the user’s second transaction is unlikely to be validated because the higher-fee transaction takes priority, meaning the original and any intermediate transactions are unlikely to be processed. This incident underscores the risks associated with RBF and highlights the need for meticulous transaction management in the unpredictable realm of cryptocurrency.
