In a historic event, an individual incurred a staggering $3.1 million transaction fee for a Bitcoin (BTC) transfer on Thursday. The mining reward for processing the block went to Antpool, which received the standard 6.25 BTC alongside an additional 85.2163 BTC in fees from all transactions within the block, according to on-chain data.
This particular transaction, mined in block 818087, now holds the record for the largest transaction fee paid in Bitcoin’s 14-year history. Notably, the sender’s wallet was hastily set up just minutes before initiating the transfer, adding intrigue to the unusual circumstances.
Out of the initially sent 139.42 BTC, the recipient only received 55.78 BTC, pointing to a significant discrepancy. Unlike a similar incident in September, where F2Pool promptly returned a mistakenly sent 19.8 BTC fee by Paxos, AntPool, a mining pool under Bitmain’s ownership, has not issued any statements regarding the apparent overpaid fee.
Despite the recent surge in Bitcoin fees attributed to heightened activity in Bitcoin-based NFT projects like Ordinals, this specific transaction seems to be an isolated error rather than a broader market impact.
As of now, Antpool has not responded to CoinDesk’s request for comment, leaving questions surrounding this unprecedented transaction unanswered.”