Crypto firm Paxos has admitted responsibility for a recent Bitcoin transaction that incurred an unusually high fee of approximately $500,000. The incident occurred on September 10 and was attributed to a bug affecting a single transfer, which has since been resolved.
Paxos assured that the error had no impact on clients or end-users, emphasizing that all customer funds remained secure. The transaction drew the attention of blockchain analysts, prompting speculation about the responsible party. Some humorously referred to the hefty fee as a “gift” to Bitcoin miners who secure the network.
While transactions with higher fees are typically processed faster, Bitcoin’s average fee ranges between $1 and $3. Paxos is currently in negotiations with the miner who received the excessive fee to recover the overpayment. The transaction’s fee amounted to 19.89 BTC, in stark contrast to the actual transfer’s value of 0.074 BTC.
According to a report by The Block, this incident set “a record for the most expensive transaction fee paid in U.S. dollars for a single Bitcoin transaction,” highlighting the magnitude of the error.
The Block’s report also added:
“The transaction fee went to Bitcoin mining pool F2Pool, which mined the block containing the transaction. Chun Wang, co-founder and administrator of F2Pool, said the 20 bitcoin will be put on hold for three days in case the originator wants to claim it. If unclaimed during that period, it will be paid to its pool of bitcoin miners.“