PayPal's Jaw-Dropping $510,750 Overpayment: The Highest Bitcoin Transaction Fee in History!
PayPal allegedly made an overpayment of $510,750, which is said to be the highest transaction fee ever recorded in USD for Bitcoin.
Chris.P
According to reports, PayPal has allegedly overpaid a record-breaking $510,750 in a Bitcoin transaction fee, which was initially believed to be a mistake. However, further investigation has revealed that the issue stemmed from a problem within PayPal's processing system. Mempool's Mononautical provided a detailed report on the incident, stating that this is the largest fee ever paid for a Bitcoin transaction in dollar terms.
The on-chain activity is consistent with automated processing of fiat-denominated withdrawals, and also closely matches the behavior of a now inactive wallet bc1qhs...kx4n, which is labelled as PayPal on https://t.co/KmZl6WXjoA.https://t.co/q8muHIsnZC pic.twitter.com/36vR0jtvWg — mononaut (@mononautical) September 13, 2023
The investigation into this substantial overpayment has uncovered some unexpected findings. The overpaid fee was sent from a hot wallet with the address "bc1qr3...zpw3," which became operational earlier this year. On-chain activity associated with this address indicates automated fiat-denominated withdrawals, resembling the behavior of an inactive wallet labeled as PayPal on oxt.me, specifically "bc1qhs...kx4n." While Bitcoin transaction fees can vary significantly based on market demand and network congestion, a fee exceeding $500,000 for such a small transaction is considered highly unusual.
The transition from the old wallet to the new "bc1qr3...zpw3" wallet is clearly visible on-chain through an intermediate address, "bc1qlm...yvaf," providing further evidence supporting the software bug theory.
Furthermore, it was discovered that the entire system was running "completely unmonitored," as PayPal failed to notice or stop the erroneous withdrawals for nearly 24 hours. This incident serves as a striking reminder of the importance of meticulous attention to detail and vigilant oversight when conducting Bitcoin transactions, especially when dealing with substantial amounts of money.
