A Bitcoin user made a costly mistake by accidentally paying a staggering $60,000 in fees during a replace-by-fee (RBF) transaction due to a misunderstanding of fee units. The user misunderstood sat/vB (fee per byte) and total satoshis, leading to an excessive overpayment. This incident underscores the importance of understanding and verifying transaction fees.
Around 00:30 UTC on April 8, 2025, the Bitcoin user attempted to speed up a pending transaction using the RBF feature. Instead of a small increase in fees, they ended up spending approximately $60,000–$70,000 on fees alone. This error happened due to a mix-up between total fee in satoshis and fee per virtual byte (sat/vB).
It is crucial to understand the difference between these two fee units. A total fee in satoshis is like cents to a dollar, and fee per virtual byte measures the “weight” of the transaction in data terms. The user, misunderstanding this, ended up paying an exorbitant fee that resulted in a loss of over $60,000.
This case highlights the need for caution when adjusting Bitcoin fees. Always double-check the unit you are setting, whether it’s total sats or sats per byte. Misunderstanding these units can lead to substantial losses, as this unfortunate incident illustrates.
Several precautionary measures can help avoid such blunders. These include using reputable wallets, understanding Bitcoin fee units before sending transactions, double-checking all transaction details before confirming, letting the wallet suggest optimal fees, and staying updated about wallet updates and potential bugs.
RBF is an essential feature that allows for the resending of a stuck transaction with a higher fee. However, any error in inputs, outputs, or the change address can prove costly. It’s also worth noting that RBF has sparked considerable controversy within the crypto community due to potential issues like enabling double-spending attacks and adding complexity that increases the likelihood of user errors.
Moving forward, the lessons from this incident are clear: always verify transactions before hitting “send,” stay updated on wallet and network changes, and finally, don’t panic. Slow confirmations are a common occurrence in Bitcoin transactions. Patience can prevent costly errors.
