How Does the Concept of “Double-Spending” Differ from RBF?

Double-spending is a malicious act where a user attempts to spend the same cryptocurrency funds in two separate, conflicting transactions. RBF is a protocol feature that allows the sender to intentionally create a replacement transaction that is a double-spend of the original unconfirmed transaction, but with a higher fee.

The key difference is intent and acceptance: RBF is a legitimate method for fee-bumping, while general double-spending is a form of fraud that the network aims to prevent once a transaction is confirmed.

What Are the Fee-Bumping Rules (E.g. Minimum Fee Increase) for a BIP125 RBF Replacement?
How Does a “First-Seen Safe” RBF Proposal Attempt to Address the 0-Conf Security Issue?
How Does a ‘Replace-by-Fee’ (RBF) Transaction Work?
Explain the ‘Replace-By-Fee’ (RBF) Mechanism and Its Risk
What Is a ‘Replace-by-Fee’ (RBF) Transaction?
What Is the Economic Cost Associated with a Successful Double-Spend Attack?
How Do Replace-by-Fee (RBF) Mechanisms Help Users on a Congested Network?
What Is the Role of “Network Latency” in a Successful RBF Double-Spend Attack?

Glossar