On July 7th the mining pool BTC.com mined a block that contained a transaction with an 80 BTC fee attached. BTC.com believes the fee was an accident as the transaction fee should have been around 2 BTC and the pool is looking to give the sender a refund.
BTC.Com Finds an 80 BTC Fee and Offers to Pay the User Back
The China-based mining pool BTC.com was surprised to find a transaction in a block they mined tethered to an 80 BTC fee ($200,000 USD). The accidental fee is a large one, but this type of incident has happened many times over the years. The mining pool says they are not interested in keeping the money and would like to pay the user back if they can verify it was their transaction.
“Recently, BTC.com mined a block containing a transaction that carried a staggering 80BTC fee,” explains the mining pool’s blog post. “Obviously, something’s up with that. All things said and done; the correct fee should have been approximately 2 BTC.
"If that was your transaction, we want to help. We’re not interested in making a quick buck, especially if it comes at the loss of another bitcoiner. That’s why we’re reaching out. Again, if you are the person in question, let us help you get your funds back."
The Curious Case of Accidental Fees
Accidental fees have happened many times throughout bitcoin’s existence. Back in April of 2016, the Bitclub Network mined block #409,008 which had a 291 BTC fee attached to a transaction. At the time the transaction was worth roughly $135,000, and no one ever came forward to claim ownership after Bitclub said they would give the fee back. Following this incident, the Bitclub mining pool donated half the funds to the Bitcoin Foundation.
This past March Bitcoin.com reported on a Bitmain customer who overpaid 2.5 BTC in a transaction mined by the company’s Antpool. The accidental fee sender took his story to cryptocurrency forums, and the pool gave the funds back to him.
“First of all, this mistake was caused by himself, and we don’t take responsibility for this,” explains Bitmain’s customer support. “But thank you for all of your support and unconditional trust for Antpool and Bitmain, our company has decided to pay his loss.”
Paying Accidental Fees Back Is Not Required, but Many Pools Have Offered a Refund
Back in 2013 the mining pool Asicminer found an overpaid 200 BTC fee. According to reports the pool’s operator “Friedcat” refunded the fee soon after finding the block. At the time bitcoin community members called Friedcat a hero for encouraging other pools to pay accidents like these back. In 2014 BTC Guild found an accidental 30 BTC transaction and gave the user back a fraction of the loss.
Miners don’t have to fix these mistakes or reimburse people for fee errors, but most of them have paid them back or have offered to when these issues arise.