Botched Bitcoin transfer costs user over $70K in fees
User pays $70K in BTC fees after RBF misstep
In a costly mishap emblematic of the complexities of crypto transaction protocols, a Bitcoin user has mistakenly paid 0.75 BTC — over $70,000 — in transaction fees due to a replace-by-fee (RBF) error.
The event occurred on April 8 and has drawn attention from the crypto community for both its magnitude and the ease with which it may have been avoided, Сointelegraph indorms.
The user’s intent was to resend a transaction with a higher fee to speed up processing — a function allowed by Bitcoin’s RBF feature. However, the second attempt included an unspent transaction output (UTXO) that inadvertently became part of the transaction fee, likely due to a failure to specify a change address or properly adjust fee parameters.
A сostly miscalculation
According to blockchain analytics and statements from AMLBot vice president Anmol Jain, the transaction was a clear case of panic-induced overcorrection. The original transaction had a modest fee, which was doubled in a second version, but still remained in the mempool. In haste, the user sent a third RBF transaction that included an additional UTXO holding 0.75 BTC — all of which was absorbed as a fee.
Second Bitcoin RBF transaction. Source: Mempool.Space
Jain speculated that the user may have confused satoshis per byte with total satoshis, or misconfigured a wallet script. The transaction had no safeguards in place to prevent such excessive fees.
Lessons for crypto users
This incident serves as a stark reminder of the risks tied to manual fee settings, particularly in a volatile and irreversible environment like Bitcoin. Experts suggest users should double-check wallet configurations and consider wallets with built-in fee estimation tools.
As crypto adoption grows, user education around transaction mechanics remains critical to prevent avoidable losses like this one.
Recently we wrote, that Arthur Hayes believes that Chinese money can save Bitcoin.
