In a startling incident that has left the crypto community buzzing, a Bitcoin user accidentally paid a staggering $500,000 in transaction fees to transfer a mere $200 worth of Bitcoin. This unfortunate error has set a new record for the highest transaction fee paid in U.S. dollars for a single Bitcoin transaction.
The transaction, which took place on September 10 at 5:10 PM UTC, involved a wallet that is recognized as a Bitcoin power user, having facilitated over 120,000 transactions to date. According to Jameson Lopp, the CTO of Casa, the wallet seems to be associated with an exchange or payment processor experiencing software glitches. Lopp shared his insights on the social media platform X, stating, “The transaction that paid nearly 20 BTC ($500,000) fee a few hours ago looks like an exchange or payment processor with buggy software.”
The details of the transaction are indeed perplexing. The user made four payments that totaled around $200, while also transferring $1,700 of Bitcoin to a change address. The transaction fee amounted to an eye-watering 19.89 Bitcoin. Despite this hiccup, on-chain data reveals that the wallet, which first appeared in June, continues to process transactions.
The hefty transaction fee was received by the Bitcoin mining pool F2Pool, which mined the block containing the transaction. Chun Wang, the co-founder and administrator of F2Pool, has assured that the 20 Bitcoin will be held for a span of three days to allow the originator to reclaim it. If the funds remain unclaimed after this period, they will be distributed among the pool’s Bitcoin miners.
This incident, although shocking, is not isolated. The history of Bitcoin showcases several instances of high-value transaction fees. As per data from Blockchair, a user paid a fee of $134,000 during a transaction in 2016. In fact, there have been 24 Bitcoin transactions where the fees exceeded $20,000, and 233 transactions where the fees were above $10,000.
Bitcoin’s transaction fee system allows users to set their preferred fee amount. While low fees might not find favor with miners, exorbitant fees ensure immediate processing. Generally, the average transaction fees hover around $1 or $2, but they have surged to as high as $60 during times of heightened activity.
