Crypto exchange Bitfinex completed a highly consequential\u00a0transaction on Sept. 27 when sending $100,000 of the stablecoin Tether (USDT) to the layer-2 subsidiary platform DeversiFi. For reasons unknown, the exchange paid 7,676 ETH, equivalent to $23.7 million, marking quite possibly the largest gas fee ever recorded on the Ethereum blockchain.\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to blockchain data from EtherScan, the deposit transaction was initiated at 11:10 UTC this morning from Bitfinex\u2019s second-largest wallet, via a second address, to the wallet of DeversiFi. The transaction carried an \u201cerroneously high gas fee\u201d, even though DeversiFi promotes a service to \u201cavoid gas costs and frustration, saving you time and money with every trade or swap.\u201d<\/p>\n
To put the enormity of this fee into context, consider the fact that the average transaction fee on the Ethereum blockchain currently stands at 0.013 ETH, or $39.96. In addition to this, two weeks ago,\u00a0$2 billion of BTC was transferred between unknown wallets for an infinitesimal fee of $0.78.<\/p>\n
DeversiFi revealed that they have launched investigative procedures to determine the most probable cause of the matter, while also adding that: \u201cNo customer funds on DeversiFi are at risk and this is an internal issue for DeversiFi to resolve\u201d, as well as that “operations are unaffected.\u201d<\/p>\n
In response, Bitfinex tweeted that: \u201cIn transactions such as these, the fees are shouldered by third party integrations with Bitfinex,” suggesting that the exchange will not directly bear the burden of the fee.<\/p>\n
In June 2020, another gas fee mystery occurred with numerical similarities to the Bitfinex case when three small to medium transactions registered seismic costs, with one 0.55 ETH transfer carrying $2.6 million in fees.<\/p>\n