In a remarkable event within the Bitcoin network, a user was charged a staggering $3.1 million transaction fee. These fees were included in a transfer processed by Antpool, which mined block 818087. Antpool, a mining pool operated by Bitmain, received 85.2163 BTC in fees in addition to the standard block reward of 6.25 BTC. This transaction marks the highest fees ever paid in Bitcoin’s 14-year history.
Unprecedented transaction details
The sender’s wallet, created just minutes before the transfer, sent 139.42 BTC, of which only 55.78 BTC reached the recipient. The remaining amount was consumed in transaction fees. This unusual event has sparked discussions and speculation within the crypto community, with many questioning the circumstances that led to such exorbitant fees.
Although high transaction fees have been noted recently due to increased activity around Bitcoin-based NFT projects like Ordinals, this particular incident appears to be an individual error. In comparison, a previous incident in September saw F2Pool refunding 19.8 BTC in fees to Paxos. So far, Antpool has made no public announcement regarding the return of overpaid fees in this latest transaction.
