According to ChainCatcher news, the largest Bitcoin mining pool by total hash rate, Foundry USA Pool, has refunded an unintentional Bitcoin transaction fee worth approximately $777,000 (8.18 BTC).
On December 19, Foundry USA Pool mined Bitcoin block 875475, which included a transaction where the sender attached a fee of 8.18 BTC, 91,127 times higher than the necessary fee.
On Friday, Foundry posted on social media that it had contacted the sender who 'accidentally' paid the fee. The mining pool confirmed that it refunded the transaction fee to the sender after 'careful consideration'; otherwise, the fee would have been allocated to the mining customers contributing hash power to the Foundry Pool.
Please note that this decision was made after careful consideration, and we will continue to handle such cases on a case-by-case basis, Foundry added.
This is not the first time a large Bitcoin mining pool has refunded an abnormally high Bitcoin transaction fee due to an unexpected event. In November 2023, Antpool refunded a transaction fee of 83.6 BTC, worth 3.1 million dollars at the time.
Currently, Foundry USA Pool has a hash rate of about 280 EH/s, nearly double that of its closest competitor, Antpool.
