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"stuck transaction causing a backlog" Can someone explain the mechanism here? What is going on? (Is it something interally at Binance or something to do with t

"stuck transaction causing a backlog" Can someone explain the mechanism here? What is going on? (Is it something interally at Binance or something to do with the Bitcoin network.)

webinvest 4y ago
1 guess: Transaction fees spiked and they didn’t pay enough for their transaction.
thehumanmeat 4y ago
Doubt it's that. They ran out of reserve for their fractional reserve. Crypto on exchange wallets has already been dwindling the past few months.
cool_dude85 4y ago
You know how the internet is a series of tubes? Well someone clogged the bitcoin tube over at Binance.
- DonHopkins 4y ago
  - rasz 4y ago
    more like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJklHwoYgBQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJklHwoYgBQ
- seanw444 4y ago
  It all makes sense now.
rocqua 4y ago
Two guesses: Guess one, they made a big transaction with most of their hot wallet, partially paying out to someone who withdrew, with the rest going back to the hot wallet. This transaction is in the queue but not finalized yet. The network won't accept any other spends of that money. Because that would be a double spend. So until that transaction is finalized (or it gets to old) that bitcoin is 'stuck'. Or alternatively their hot wallet is empty and they have an outstanding transaction to refill it from their cold wallet. (They have the cash, but they have to wait until they can get it from their 'vault', and there is a traffic jam on the way to the vault). I am not sure the first guess actually still works this way, I vaguely recall there are now mechanisms for one transaction to 'override' another non-confirmed transaction.
- lxgr 4y ago
  > there are now mechanisms for one transaction to 'override' another non-confirmed transaction. There's at least two, "child pays for parent" and replace-by-fee. It's pretty hard to get regular transactions really "stuck", these days.
  - rocqua 4y ago
    Ah ofcourse child pays for parent essentially always works. If I recall correctly replace-by-fee requires wallet support perhaps even at the time of creating the original transaction. But child pays for parent is just universal because it doesn't need to replace the transaction in the mempool, it just pays the miners to move it out of the mempool.
- jonahbenton 4y ago
  Excellent hypotheses, it should be possible to see these transactions if they are out there. That's why it's a public blockchain.
- throwaway4good 4y ago
  What queue? Is there a queue in the bitcoin network? I thought it was a question of paying a high enough transaction fee and you would get your transaction done faster / within 10 minutes.
  - gruez 4y ago
    > What queue? Is there a queue in the bitcoin network? Yes, that's what the mempool is. >I thought it was a question of paying a high enough transaction fee and you would get your transaction done faster / within 10 minutes. that's broadly true, but if transaction volume spikes then your initial fee estimate might be too low. there are ways around this (RBF, CPFP), but it's unknown whether their wallet software handles it.
    - throwaway4good 4y ago
      How would this be an excuse for Binance to block outgoing transactions? Unless somehow all of Binance's bitcoin was stuck in the mempool ...
ISL 4y ago
Bitcoin is off ~20% against USD in the last two days, ~13% in last day. That much movement is bound to drive transaction and redemption volumes way up at any exchange.

"stuck transaction causing a backlog" Can someone explain the mechanism here? What is going on? (Is it something interally at Binance or something to do with the Bitcoin network.)

webinvest 4y ago

1 guess: Transaction fees spiked and they didn’t pay enough for their transaction.

thehumanmeat 4y ago

Doubt it's that. They ran out of reserve for their fractional reserve. Crypto on exchange wallets has already been dwindling the past few months.

cool_dude85 4y ago

You know how the internet is a series of tubes? Well someone clogged the bitcoin tube over at Binance.

DonHopkins 4y ago
- rasz 4y ago
  more like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJklHwoYgBQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJklHwoYgBQ
seanw444 4y ago
It all makes sense now.

rocqua 4y ago

Two guesses: Guess one, they made a big transaction with most of their hot wallet, partially paying out to someone who withdrew, with the rest going back to the hot wallet. This transaction is in the queue but not finalized yet. The network won't accept any other spends of that money. Because that would be a double spend. So until that transaction is finalized (or it gets to old) that bitcoin is 'stuck'. Or alternatively their hot wallet is empty and they have an outstanding transaction to refill it from their cold wallet. (They have the cash, but they have to wait until they can get it from their 'vault', and there is a traffic jam on the way to the vault). I am not sure the first guess actually still works this way, I vaguely recall there are now mechanisms for one transaction to 'override' another non-confirmed transaction.

lxgr 4y ago
> there are now mechanisms for one transaction to 'override' another non-confirmed transaction. There's at least two, "child pays for parent" and replace-by-fee. It's pretty hard to get regular transactions really "stuck", these days.
- rocqua 4y ago
  Ah ofcourse child pays for parent essentially always works. If I recall correctly replace-by-fee requires wallet support perhaps even at the time of creating the original transaction. But child pays for parent is just universal because it doesn't need to replace the transaction in the mempool, it just pays the miners to move it out of the mempool.
jonahbenton 4y ago
Excellent hypotheses, it should be possible to see these transactions if they are out there. That's why it's a public blockchain.
throwaway4good 4y ago
What queue? Is there a queue in the bitcoin network? I thought it was a question of paying a high enough transaction fee and you would get your transaction done faster / within 10 minutes.
- gruez 4y ago
  > What queue? Is there a queue in the bitcoin network? Yes, that's what the mempool is. >I thought it was a question of paying a high enough transaction fee and you would get your transaction done faster / within 10 minutes. that's broadly true, but if transaction volume spikes then your initial fee estimate might be too low. there are ways around this (RBF, CPFP), but it's unknown whether their wallet software handles it.
  - throwaway4good 4y ago
    How would this be an excuse for Binance to block outgoing transactions? Unless somehow all of Binance's bitcoin was stuck in the mempool ...

ISL 4y ago

Bitcoin is off ~20% against USD in the last two days, ~13% in last day. That much movement is bound to drive transaction and redemption volumes way up at any exchange.