Transactions executed on blockchain networks are known for its lower fees and more efficient transaction speeds as compared to inter-bank transactions, for example. On the Ethereum blockchain network, transaction costs are termed ‘gas fees’ and the amount of gas a user pays fluctuates, especially when the network is experiencing congestion due to high volumes of transactions.
However, gas fees hit an all-time-high in Ethereum history at $2.6 million with a transaction involving only $130 on June 10, much to the confusion of the Ethereum community. According to Decrypt, this exorbitant gas fee amount occured twice in the span of a few hours. After the first transaction of $130, another $2.6 million was charged over a transfer of $86,000.
A few possibilities were raised over the $2.6 million ETH gas fee, the first being simple human or machine error when making calculations with the gas fee. Independent consultant Colin Platt, whom Decrypt spoke to, highlighted that there could have been an error with differentiating between Gwei and ETH amounts. Gwei, also known as gigawei, is a separate denomination used to measure Ether. 1 billion Wei (gigawei) is equivalent to 1 ETH and if selecting the wrong measurement scale was to blame, it is plausible for gas fees to reach $2.6 million with the Gwei metric.
Money laundering and foul play were also suspected by some in the community, but deemed unlikely, which leaves system or human errors as a cause of these two isolated incidents. The good news is the user is likely to get their funds back. Bitfly’s Ethermine ETH pool, where the gas fee amounting to approximately 10,000 ETH was transferred to, offered to return the funds to the owner and asked them to contact their support portal to sort this ‘accident’ out.
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