What Is “Replace-by-Fee” (RBF) and How Does It Affect Miners?
Replace-by-Fee (RBF) is a Bitcoin protocol feature allowing a sender to replace an unconfirmed transaction in the mempool with a new transaction that pays a higher fee. This is primarily used to expedite confirmation if the original fee was too low during network congestion.
For miners, RBF is economically beneficial as it directly increases the total transaction fees they can earn by prioritizing the more lucrative replacement transaction. It creates a competitive market for block space, maximizing miner revenue.
Glossar
Bitcoin Protocol Feature
Specification ⎊ This refers to the immutable set of rules governing transaction validity, block structure, and network behavior as defined in the protocol code.
Transaction Fees
Cost ⎊ Transaction fees represent a quantifiable expense incurred for processing and validating transactions across diverse financial systems, functioning as a critical component of network participation and security.
RBF
Policy ⎊ RBF (Replace-by-Fee) is a protocol feature that allows a user to replace an unconfirmed transaction in the mempool with a new transaction that includes a higher transaction fee.