AntPool returns up to $3 million in Bitcoin transaction fees
Bitcoin mining pool Antpool has made headlines by agreeing to return a record $3 million transaction fee. This decision, however, comes with a legal requirement: Owners must verify their identity before December 10, 2023.
This decision is followed by a surprise payment of 83.65 BTC ($3.1 million). The user who committed the error was attempting to send a transaction of 55.77 BTC.
AntPool offers to return $3M Bitcoin payment error
The event, which involves the transfer of funds at Block 818,087, sets a new record for the highest US dollar payout for a single Bitcoin transaction.
A user named “83_5BTC” claimed to be a victim of this exorbitant fee. They accused them of hacking their wallets.
After transferring 139 BTC to a new cold wallet, the funds moved quickly. This raises questions about the legitimacy of the claim and the possibility that the attacker could use the compromised wallet to sign the claim.
This complexity puts AntPool's risk management system to the test, causing payments to be temporarily frozen and calls for authentication using tools such as Electron or Bitcoin Core.
Being a common occurrence
This phenomenon is not alone. In September, Paxos, a crypto service provider, was responsible for a 20 BTC transaction fee.
At the time, a Paxos spokesperson confirmed the overpayment was due to an error in one of the transfers. This “fat finger” bug has since been fixed.
The incident sparked widespread discussion in the crypto community, prompting F2Pool co-founder Chun Wang to chime in. He regretted agreeing to refund the fee. This idea was echoed by Cosmos developer “chjango.cosmos”, who suggested a 50/50 split between Paxos and network miners.
Overall, these issues highlight the cautious nature and attention to detail of making cryptocurrency transactions.
Read more: What are Multisig Wallets and how do they work?
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