Key Takeaways:

  • Paypal partner Paxos overpaid the fees on a Bitcoin transaction worth $2,000.
  • However, it is not the only accidental Bitcoin transaction in history.
  • BTC price pushed above $26,000
Oops! PayPal Partner Paxos Pays $500K in Bitcoin Transaction Fee

NEW DELHI (CoinChapter.com) — PayPal partner Paxos has stated that it was responsible for mistakenly paying over $500,000 for a Bitcoin transaction worth $200 (about 0.008 BTC)

Early reports suggested that PayPal might be responsible for the “fat fingers” mistake. However, the payment giant released a statement saying that its crypto partner Paxos made the erroneous transaction.

Paxos overpaid the BTC network fee on Sept. 10, 2023. This only impacted Paxos corporate operations. Paxos clients and end users have not been affected and all customer funds are safe

A PayPal spokesperson said in a statement.

PayPal stated that its crypto partner Paxos was responsible for the error.
PayPal stated that its crypto partner Paxos was responsible for the error.

Furthermore, the incident might not be a human error. An investigation by crypto developer Mononaut has led to the speculation that a software bug might be behind the error. Mononaut also alleged that the entire Paxos system was running “unmonitored,” arguing that it took PayPal 24 hours to notice the error.

The incident resulted in Paxos pausing transactions for a while after paying nearly 480,000 times the actual fees for the transaction. Bitcoin transaction fees go to the block’s miner. As a result, some users suspected that the transaction was planned between the miner and the sender.

However, Mononaut discounted the rumors, revealing that the payment was not deliberate since the “transaction was broadcast openly for anyone to mine.”

Meanwhile, Paxos is trying to recover the extra funds from the miner who received the unexpected bounty.

Crypto Losses Due To Mistakes: Not As Uncommon As You Think

It is not the first instance of a Bitcoin transaction costing the sender more than the usual fee amount. In Sept. 2013, a UK user (1Cfs….26FX) paid over 8,000% in transaction fees. One transaction of 0.01 BTC earned the block’s miner over 80 BTC in fees.

Users on the Bitcoin Forum highlighted the mistakes, with one user hoping that the owner of the faulty transactions saw the post and rectified their mistake. Users on the Forum speculated that glitchy software might be responsible for the error.

In 2010, with Bitcoin relatively new, a hacker compromised Bitcoin code to mint 92 billion BTC tokens. Developers had to “respawn” Bitcoin code, meaning that the community rolled back to the block before the hack and canceled all the transactions that happened after the exploit.

Of course, software’s not always at fault, as James Howells of Wales, UK, came to realize the hard way. Howells accidentally threw out a hard drive containing his Bitcoin fortune while cleaning out his office, and his then-girlfriend threw out the trash.

Howells continues to search for his treasure disk to date, planning to sue the local council as the body refuses to let him search landfills for the drive.

Another Bitcoin fiasco was when a user accidentally sent 800 BTC tokens to an address on the now-defunct Mt. Gox exchange. In 2014, the Reddit user shared on the social media platform that he had also sent 300 BTC to the same address in 2013 and could not recall the reason for the transaction.

It remains unclear if the user managed to recover his lost BTC.

BTC Price Spikes 6.5% WTD

Bitcoin price rose by 6.5% since Sept. 11 to reach a daily high of $27,535 on Sept. 14 after bulls succeeded in closing above $26,000 on Sept. 13. However, bears are pushing against the trend, evident from the long upper wicks on recent BTC price candles.

BTCUSD daily price chart with RSI. Source: Tradingview.com

Moreover, the recent rally helped the BTC price re-enter the ascending parallel channel it has been moving in since March 2023. Bitcoin price action has been repeating a dome-shaped fractal in 2023, forming higher highs each time (dashed curves above).

The roughly four-month-long trend has bottomed out in Sept. If the BTC price repeats history, the token could rise to the resistance trendline of the parallel channel.

Should BTC price’s recent rally continue, bulls would have to face the 200-day EMA (green wave) and 50-day EMA (purple wave) resistance confluence near $27,000. Breaking and consolidating above the immediate resistance might help Bitcoin price rally to the resistance near $28,340 before retreating.

However, if the bears succeed in curbing the bull run, BTC price might seek support near $25,200, which has previously supported the token’s price action four times in 2023.

Failure of the immediate support level could force the Bitcoin price to test the support near $24,000.

The RSI for BTC remained neutral, with a reading of 48.28 on the daily charts.

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