Antpool Mines Bitcoin Block with $3.2 Million in Fees

Someone has sent 55.77 BTC in an on-chain transaction attaching an unusually high amount of fees in 83.6 BTC, worth $3.1 million.

That is the highest ever bitcoin transaction fee in dollar terms, according to Mempool operator @mononautical on X (formerly Twitter).

The transaction was confirmed in bitcoin block 818,087 around 10:00 UTC on Thursday, resulting in the block’s full rewards being 91.46 BTC, including 85.21 BTC in total fees and 6.25 BTC in block subsidies.

The block’s total rewards are worth $3.4 million at bitcoin’s current prices. For context, the average bitcoin block rewards fluctuated around 7 BTC in November.

The block was mined by Antpool, which has not made any statement about whether it intends to return the fees if the abnormal transaction fee was due to an error or mistake.

This isn’t the first time that bitcoin transactions were sent with an unusually high fee.

Earlier this year, F2Pool mined a bitcoin block that contained a transaction sent by Paxos that attached 19.8 BTC in fees due to an error. The mining pool later returned the fee after confirming with the sending party.