Blockchain explorer Mempool recently disclosed data indicating the return of accidentally overpaid transaction fees by a Bitcoin miner to the blockchain company, Paxos. The miner, who initially received a transaction fee of 19.8 BTC from Paxos, sent back the funds after Paxos claimed an overpayment mistake amounting to over $500,000.
On Sept. 10, the crypto world witnessed a curiously high transaction fee for a Bitcoin transaction involving just around $2,000. The transaction fee was unusually excessive at about $500,000, considering the standard network fee approximates just around $2. This led to rampant speculations, with several observers concluding that it could have resulted from carelessly pasting output data into the fee section.
It wasn’t until Sept. 13 that Paxos admitted the transaction originated from its server. The company assured the concerned public and their users that the involved funds were secure and belonged to Paxos. It further clarified that there was no involvement or error on PayPal’s part in the transaction, taking full resposibility for the mistake.
The miner, who had already received the funds before Paxos’ admission, expressed their dismay on X, previously known as Twitter. They quizzed their followers on the appropriate action to take, considering they’d made an agreement to return the funds to Paxos. Most of the followers suggested a redistribution of the money among other Bitcoin miners.
Regardless of the general advice given, the miner decided to repay the money back to Paxos. Blockchain data disclosed by Bitcoin explorer, Mempool, showed this was done on Sept. 15.
Such costly errors are not new within the crypto space. In 2019, an Ethereum user mistakenly lost close to $400,000 in Ether after incorrectly filling in the transaction fields. Fortunately, Ethereum mining pool Sparkpool intervened to help retrieve half of the lost funds.