Bitcoin users accidentally paid 0.75 BTC for a transaction fee worth around $60,000 after committing a panic-driven error on April 8, 2025. This mistake occurred when the user tried to use the Exchange Amount (RBF) feature to adjust transactions that were not ignored. User’s initial transaction was characterized by a conservative fee, but after realising that the first transaction was unlikely to be processed in time, they tried to replace it with a higher fee. But in a hurry, they set the fees too high, leading to overpayment.
The second RBF transaction sent a total of 0.75 BTC, including 0.48 Bitcoin (valued by about $37,770) and a change of 0.2 BTC (valued by $16,357). Anmol Jain, Vice President of Investigation at Amlbot, explained that this is likely due to a typo or mistake when setting up transaction fees. Jain intended the user to set the rate at 30.5692 Satoshis, but accidentally entered 305,692 Satoshis, so the wallet calculated a far higher price than expected.
This issue could have been exacerbated by the user’s inability to properly adjust the change address. This sent nearly 0.75 BTC as part of the fee. It can also lead to overcorrection when users misunderstand how Bitcoin wallets set fees and try to raise fees to see transactions faster.
RBF is a controversial feature of Bitcoin. This allows users to increase the fees for unconfirmed transactions and encourage miners to include them in the block. However, this feature has been criticized for causing double spending. Bitcoin Cash, for example, removes RBFs from the network and claims that unconfirmed transactions are final and secure. Some Bitcoin developers believe RBF is necessary to speed up transactions, but if users don’t fully understand how to set up prices correctly, their implementation can lead to costly mistakes.
In this case, the higher transaction is preferred, so the user’s second transaction is unlikely to be seen, so the original and intermediate transactions may not be processed. The incident highlights the risks associated with RBFs and highlights the importance of careful trading management in a cryptocurrency volatile world.