$100,000 Error: User Overpaid for $10 Bitcoin Transfer
Date: 2025-11-13 Author: Oliver Abernathy Categories: CRYPTO PAYMENTS
A Bitcoin user accidentally paid almost 1 BTC (approximately $105,000) for a transfer of just $10, reports TheMinerMag. This incident became one of the largest fees in the past year and sparked discussion in the cryptocurrency community.
The incident occurred when the transaction was included in block #923023, mined by the MARA mining pool. This pool is owned by the American company MARA Holdings, the largest public miner in the United States. According to blockchain data, the reward for this block was 4,154 BTC: 3,125 BTC came from the standard mining reward, and the remaining 1,029 BTC came from user fees. This significantly exceeds normal values, especially during a period when average network fees remain at minimal levels.
As it turns out, it was one small transaction that caused such high fees. The sender spent 99,989,964 satoshi (approximately 0.9999 BTC) to transfer just 0.00010036 BTC, or approximately $10. Thus, the user overpaid by more than 200,000 times.
Currently, activity on the Bitcoin network remains low, and fees, even for urgent transfers, rarely exceed $1. On average, only about 0.6% of miners' rewards come from fees, while the bulk of their income comes from the issuance of new coins.
MARA CEO Fred Thiel previously noted that the sustainability of the mining business is directly dependent on rising fees. According to him, the traditional Bitcoin mining model may become unprofitable in the coming years, making fees increasingly important in maintaining the industry's profitability.
It is still unknown whether MARA will refund users' mistakenly spent funds. Historically, there have been instances of pools returning excess fees. For example, in December 2024, Foundry USA Pool compensated a user for 8.18 BTC (approximately $777,000 at the time), and in November 2023, Antpool returned 83.65 BTC (approximately $3.1 million). These examples demonstrate that, although such incidents are rare, the mining community sometimes offers assistance to users who have made costly mistakes.
Nevertheless, the $105,000 fee incident once again highlights the need for careful data verification before sending cryptocurrency, especially on a network where errors are virtually impossible to reverse.
