Fat Finger Mistake: Trader Pays $800K Transaction Fee For $13K BTC Transfer

A bitcoin (BTC) trader has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for a BTC transfer worth just $13,000. This incident accounts for one of the largest transaction fees paid in Bitcoin’s history.

The blockchain tracker and analytics system Whale Alert identified the transaction in a tweet, revealing that the trader spent 8.1 BTC to transfer around $13,900 worth of BTC. Bitcoin was valued above $99,000 at the time of the transaction, bringing the gas fee above $804,147.

According to data from mempool.space, the fee was higher. The trader spent 8.334 BTC worth $808,581, overpaying by 91,127x when compared to the average transaction fee rate on the network. The Bitcoin miner Foundry USA handled the transaction.

Another Fat Finger Mistake

Such incidents where traders spend ridiculous amounts in transaction fees, especially for smaller transfers, are attributed to fat fingers, a term addressing human error when entering data or executing financial transactions.

Similar experiences have occurred in the past, with market participants even spending millions for measly transaction amounts. Such was the case of an unknown BTC user who, in November 2023, spent 83.6 BTC, worth $3.1 million at the time, to transfer 55.77 BTC, valued at roughly $2 million, overpaying by a factor of 119,980x, based on the block’s fee rate of 141/sat/vb at the time.

Luckily for the trader, the risk control system of the leading Asian Bitcoin mining pool, AntPool, which processed the transfer, froze the fee when packaging the transaction and took appropriate steps to make a refund. While the cost was the most valuable in Bitcoin’s history in USD terms, it represented the eighth-largest since the network’s inception.

Refund On The Way?

Noteworthily, the blockchain infrastructure provider Paxos made a similar error in September 2023, leading to the payment of 19.8 BTC worth $510,000 for a 0.074 BTC transfer valued at less than $2,000. The fee represented almost 480,000x the average network fee of $2.176 at the time.

The Bitcoin miner F2Pool processed the transaction and eventually reversed the transfer, returning the overpayment to Paxos.

Interestingly, there have been situations where traders who overpaid their transaction fees were not lucky enough to be reimbursed. In January 2024, one such user paid 4 BTC ($172,000) for a 2.9 BTC transaction valued at $118,800.

It remains to be seen if Foundry USA will reimburse the latest fat fingers victim.