The cryptocurrency market is growing, and with it new schemes for stealing coins and user data appear. Hacking wallets, fake exchanges, viruses, phishing emails, and more have happened in the crypto community more than once. Not only world famous exchanges and large holders of cryptocurrencies suffer, but also ordinary users.

In this article, we’ll take a look at the most common types of cryptocurrency scams and give some tips on how to secure your coins.

1. Phishing

Phishing is a scam to obtain user identification information such as mnemonic phrases, private keys, and account login credentials. Both ordinary users and large companies have repeatedly become victims of phishing.

The fraudster impersonates a well-known person or company in the crypto community, sends emails, creates fake websites or social networking accounts.

For example, at the end of 2020, users of the Ledger wallet received letters stating that the servers were infected with malware and there was a risk of cryptocurrency theft. To avoid this, it was suggested to follow the link and download the security update. Inattentive users downloaded the update from a fake version of the Ledger website, and scammers received funds from victims.

Beware of suspicious messages and emails that may contain dangerous links or attachments. Check your URLs for spelling errors or extra characters. If in doubt about the sender of the letter, contact the company directly through the contact details provided in a reliable source.

Even if the email was sent from a real address, it can still be fraudulent. Be sure to check the URL before entering your logins and passwords.

Do not follow links received from unknown senders.

To avoid falling victim to phishing on social media, check to see if the person is who they say they are. Some social networks have indicators of authenticity.

Protect your confidential information, do not give anyone your private keys, seed phrase, logins and passwords.

2. Blackmail

Perhaps this is one of the most common methods of extortion of cryptocurrency. The fraudster threatens the victim with spreading confidential information about her, which in theory can be true. For example, an attacker claims to have evidence of cheating or viewing prohibited content. By the way, scammers do not always have any important information about their victims. They often fake it.

Among the scammers, there are especially creative individuals. So in 2018, a number of netizens received warning letters. The attacker claimed that someone ordered them to the killer, but if users send BTC coins to the specified address, the order to the killer will be canceled.

If you receive such an email, the best solution in such a situation is to ignore it and not send the cryptocurrency to the scammer. Attackers send a huge number of letters every day, and most likely they have no information about you, and your mail is simply on their mailing list.

If you feel a real threat from the sender of the letter, you should contact your local police. You should not enter into a dialogue and even less send coins to the extortionist. Such actions can lead to negative consequences.

3. Fake giveaways

Fraudsters, using famous names in the crypto community for greater persuasiveness, create accounts on social networks and many sites, buy YouTube channels, offering a bargain “send me coins and I will return you 10 times more.” The user sends their coins, but gets nothing back.

Do not participate in the distribution of cryptocurrency if, according to its terms, you must send coins to the organizer’s address. The organizers of fair giveaways do not require funds to be sent to them.

4. Fake exchanges

Such services lure customers with very low fees, free distribution of coins or gifts. Often they attract with a very favorable rate, offering arbitrage between exchanges. Users use a fake service, but when trying to withdraw a significant amount, fake exchanges block coins. Such exchanges can exist for a long time and not attract attention, imitating the reality of a real exchange.

Be careful about your credentials and the sites you visit. Provide information about yourself carefully.

Use different email and passwords when registering. It is extremely dangerous to use the same email and the same password, since if one account is hacked, attackers will be able to gain access to your other accounts.

Bookmark the URL of the real exchange you are using. Always test it before use.

5. Fake apps

There have also been cases when attackers created copies of existing applications or fake applications for platforms that do not have mobile or desktop versions. For example, in 2017, the Poloniex exchange app appeared. Users installed it by providing their personal data to scammers.

Before downloading the application, check the information about the developer, the number of downloads, read reviews and comments.

6. Pyramid scheme

The classic pyramid scheme has a very simple scheme. For example, the service promises 10% return on investment by the end of the month. You have invested $100 in the project. During this time, the investor is looking for a new client who also invests $100. After receiving money from a new investor, the organizer can pay you $110 at the end of the month. In order to pay the second investor, the organizer finds new clients. Investors make a profit only if new people come to the project and invest money.

The pyramids have a number of common features: they guarantee a high income without risk, they persistently ask to bring new customers, the site does not have contact information and documentary evidence of investments. If the project has these features, it is most likely fraudulent.

Before investing in an unfamiliar project, try to find as much information as possible about it. Take your time and do not fall for the beliefs about easy profit, study the reviews of real users.

7. Fake tokens

Recently, decentralized finance (DeFi) has become very popular. This attracted a lot of scammers. Attackers create fake DeFi tokens and add them to decentralized exchanges. Fake tokens have the same names and tickers as the original tokens.

As a result, one exchange can have a real cryptocurrency and its copies. If you buy a fake token, the funds will go to scammers, and you will be left with a currency, the price of which is most likely equal to zero.

Look for the token not by name, but by the address of the smart contract. You can find the original address on the project website or through cryptocurrency aggregators. For example, Coinmarketcap and Coingecko.

Analyze the token smart contract information on etherscan, bscscan and polygonscan. Pay attention to liquidity and the number of transactions.

8. Malware

The copy-and-paste virus allows scammers to intercept data from the clipboard. If you have such a virus on your device, then when you copy and then paste the address from the clipboard, it will be automatically replaced with the address of the fraudster.

There are also ransomware viruses that can block access to important data on the device, threatening to delete it. To unblock, the victim is required to send cryptocurrency.

Be sure to check the recipient’s address before sending coins. Otherwise, if you have copy-and-paste virus on your device, you may lose your funds.

Set up regular backups. If you encounter a ransomware virus, it will help you recover your files.

If you suspect that your device has a virus, scan it with an antivirus.

We have covered the most popular types of scams that both beginners and experienced cryptocurrency users can face. We hope that knowledge of these methods will help you protect your funds from loss.

Source: fixedfloat.com

How to avoid scams and theft of your crypto? was originally published in FixedFloat on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Sending cryptocurrency to the wrong network is one of the most common problems in the cryptocurrency community. This mistake is most often made by users of Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Binance Smart Chain, and Polygon due to their similar address formats. If you find yourself in such a situation, do not despair. There is a chance that you will be able to get the coins back.

1. What is the difference between Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Binance Smart Chain and Polygon?

First, you need to figure out what is the difference between these networks and why a mistake in choosing a network can cost you a loss of funds.

Ethereum — cryptocurrency and platform for creating decentralized applications based on smart contracts. FixedFloat supports ERC20.

Ethereum Classic is a fork that retains the original source of the Ethereum platform.

Binance Smart Chain — Binance’s own blockchain compatible with Ethereum. FixedFloat supports BEP20.

Polygon (MATIC Network) — blockchain modeled after the Ethereum network to address its scalability.

The main feature of these blockchains is that they have the same address format, starting with 0x, and access to them is carried out using a single private key. Because of this, cryptocurrency users sometimes make mistakes and send their coins to another network.

When creating an order for FixedFloat, the user can make a similar mistake in two cases: when selecting a network in the “Send” field or when selecting a network in the “Receive” field. Let’s consider these situations and their possible solutions.

2. You have sent coins to a FixedFloat address on a different network

If you entered the wrong network in the “Send” field when creating an order, your order will not be executed automatically. For example, you created an order to exchange USDT ERC20 to BTC, but sent USDT coins to the FixedFloat address on the BEP20 network. In such a situation, you should contact FixedFloat technical support.

3. When creating an order, you specified the wrong network in the “Receive” field

Let’s say you wanted to exchange BTC for ETH, but by mistake chose ETH BEP20 in the “Receive” field. In the field “Your Ethereum (BEP20) address” you entered your ETH address.

Since the addresses in the ETH, ETC, BSC and Polygon networks are identical, the automatic FixedFloat system cannot detect your error and creates an order. If you find yourself in a similar situation, then don’t panic. There is a chance that you can get the coins back.

To get started, you can make sure that the transaction was sent to the address that you provided when creating the order. Network explorers can help you with this.

etherscan.io — explorer of the Ethereum network.

etcblockexplorer.com — explorer of the Ethereum Classic network.

bscscan.com — explorer of the Binance Smart Chain network.

polygonscan.com — explorer of the Polygon network.

After you have made sure that the coins arrived at your address on a different network, you can start restoring access to an address on this network. Much depends on which wallet or service you sent your coins to.

3.1. You have mistakenly sent tokens to a wallet that does not support the network on which the tokens were sent

In this case, you need to import your wallet private key into a new wallet that supports both networks. Depending on the wallet you are importing, you can also use a seed phrase instead of a private key. After importing the private key of the wallet into another wallet, you will have access to your funds.

Please note that due to the import of the private key, funds are not sent to another wallet. The user simply accesses their wallet from another application. This method is available only for users of non-custodial crypto wallets.

Instructions for importing a key into MetaMask

Instructions for importing a key into Trust Wallet

3.2. You have mistakenly sent tokens to a wallet that supports both networks

This situation has the simplest solution. For example, MetaMask and Trust Wallet support both Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain. You can easily access coins on these networks by following the instructions below.

Instructions for adding Binance Smart Chain to MetaMask

Instructions for adding Binance Smart Chain to Trust Wallet

Once you add Binance Smart Chain support to your wallet, coins that were sent in error on the BEP20 network will appear on your wallet balance.

3.3. You have sent tokens to a custodian wallet or crypto exchange

Custodian wallet users do not own the private key. To solve this problem, you should contact the technical support of your wallet or the exchange to which you have poisoned the coins. Some custodial wallets can help for an additional fee and provide access to private keys. After receiving the private key, you can import it into another wallet that supports both blockchains.

To prevent such an mistake, we strongly recommend that you check the network in which you want to send or receive coins.

Source: fixedfloat.com

How to recover tokens when sending to the wrong network? was originally published in FixedFloat on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Each user of the cryptocurrency when sending a transaction was faced with a network fee. The network fee is also known as miner fee or GAS. The fee is provided for transferring funds, performing functions provided for by smart contracts, transferring tokens. The reward is awarded to miners or validators.

In most blockchains, network fees are quite low, but they can increase depending on the network load. The miner fee amount specified by the user when sending a transaction determines the priority of this transaction when adding to the next new block. The higher the amount of the fee, the higher the priority of the transaction for entering a new block.

The FixedFloat rate includes an exchange fee of 0.5% for a floating rate or 1% for a fixed rate, as well as a miner fee to consolidate the incoming transaction and send the transaction to you. More detailed information about this is in our article How is the rate formed on the FixedFloat.

Miner fee is not a FixedFloat fee. Miner fee is awarded to miners or blockchain validators for mining a new block.

Why do we pay the miner fee?

First of all, the miner fee encourages miners to mine new blocks and maintain a safe and stable operation of the blockchain. Using the computing power of computers or special equipment, miners process transactions and add them to the blockchain. Also, the fee is a kind of compensation for the costs incurred by the miner when mining new blocks: equipment, electricity. You can read in our article A clear example of how transactions on the blockchain are confirmed.

Another function of the miner fee is protection against spam attacks. Without network fees, attackers could create a huge number of transactions that the network could not quickly process. Miner fee provides protection against spam attacks and makes them expensive to implement.

What factors affect the network fee?

1. Current load on the network. The greater the load on the network, the higher the actual network fee. The load on the network can depend on many factors: the hash rate, a sharp change in the rate of the cryptocurrency, because of which users begin to actively buy or sell it, whether users are ready to pay more so that their transactions receive confirmation from the network before others.
2. Transaction size. The size of the transaction does not depend on the amount of the transaction you are sending, but on the number of entries and exits of the transaction. Let’s say a miner sees 2 transactions with the same fees. The miner is interested in having as many transactions as possible in the block, so he will choose a transaction with a smaller size. You can read more about the inputs and outputs of a transaction and how to save on fees in our article What is consolidation in cryptocurrencies?
3. Your personal priority is whether you are willing to wait or need to get your coins as soon as possible. If you have a non-urgent deal, then you don’t have to pay a high network fee. Sooner or later, the transaction will enter the block and receive confirmation from the network. If time is an important factor for you, it is recommended to set the actual network fee.

How do I calculate the transaction fee?

The easiest way is to use a wallet, which will automatically do it for you. Some wallets allow users to set their own transaction fees. If you want to set the transaction fee yourself, it is recommended that you familiarize yourself with the services that provide information about the current network fee before doing so.

The miner fee in the Bitcoin network

With a high network load and high demand for BTC, the average network fee increases, as users, trying to get the network confirmation faster, indicate a high fee. Because of this, users may face a situation where they sent a transaction with the current network fee, but while waiting for a new block, the network fee increased and the priority of the transaction became worse. The solution to the problem can be the Replace by fee function. You can read more about this in our article Replacing and canceling Bitcoin transactions.

The current fee of the Bitcoin network can be found on the mempool.space service.

The miner fee on the Ethereum network

In the ETH network, the principle of fee is different from BTC. To determine the size of the fee, the amount of computing power that will be needed to process the transaction is taken into account — GAS. The GAS price represents the amount of ETH that you are willing to spend on each unit of gas. It is measured in Gwei. The higher the price for GAS a transaction has, the higher its priority, which means it will get into the block faster.

If the network’s fee has increased dramatically, and the transaction has not received confirmation from the network, you can use the Replace by fee function. For step-by-step instructions, see our article Replacing and canceling Ethereum transactions.

When sending ERC20 tokens, you must have ETH coins in your account, which will be used to pay network fees.

The current fee of the Ethereum network can be found on the etherscan.io service.

The miner fee on Binance Chain

Fees for sending a transaction on the Binance Chain are paid in BNB. There is a fixed fee structure for various actions on the network. When sending BEP2 tokens, there must be BNB coins in the account, which will be used to pay network fees. If you do not have BNB coins in your account, you will not be able to send BEP2 tokens.

You can find the current network fee in this document of the Binance exchange.

The miner fee on Binance Smart Chain

Unlike Binance Chain, the fee on the BSC network is not fixed. The principle of the fee structure is similar to Ethereum, it also takes into account the amount of computing power that will be needed to process a transaction. The network fee is calculated in Gwei. Typically, the BSC network has very low fees.

It is important to consider that when sending BEP20 tokens, there must be BNB coins in the account, which will be used to pay network fees. Otherwise, no tokens will be sent.

You can get acquainted with the current network fee on the bscscan.com service.

The miner fee in the Tron network

TRX network users can make transactions without fees.

Bandwidth is required when sending TRC10 tokens. Every day, the account receives 5000 units of bandwidth. On average, sending a single transaction consumes about 250 units of bandwidth. As long as you don’t burn all those free units of bandwidth, you can send transactions for free.

When sending TRC20 tokens, in addition to Bandwidth, Energy is consumed. Bandwidth and energy can be increased by freezing TRX coins on your account. During this time, coins cannot be used.

The number of consumed energy units depends on the complexity of the smart contract used. If there is not enough bandwidth, TRX coins will be used to pay the fee.

Source: fixedfloat.com

What is the miner fee? was originally published in FixedFloat on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

What are stablecoins?

Stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency that is tied to the value of traditional valuable assets. It can be fiat money, precious metals, or even energy. The basis for stablecoins is the blockchain, on the basis of which the coins operate.

The main task of stablecoin developers is to create a cryptocurrency that is immune to volatility and inflation, convenient for exchange for other assets, for buying goods, investing or storing capital. Stablecoins are pegged to an asset 1:1. Deviations are possible up or down, but they are insignificant.

Who needs stablecoins and why?

The relatively stable exchange rate of the US dollar against the currencies of other countries is already taken for granted. Inflation undoubtedly affects the dollar as well, but not significantly, given that there are countries whose currencies can lose their value by 15% or more per year.

Stablecoins can be a great alternative for people living in countries with unstable national currencies and government capital controls.

Also, stablecoins can reduce the number of intermediaries in the financial system, which will accordingly reduce the cost of paying commissions.

A stable rate opens up many possibilities for users. People may not waste time and resources trying to preserve their savings. Stablecoins have a chance in the future to become the basis for the international market for lending and financial derivatives.

Features of stablecoins

• The main advantage of stablecoins is stability. The price of a stablecoin directly depends on the real asset. There are fluctuations in the rate, but insignificant.
• Stablecoins are backed by real assets. This allows you to use them as an investment without fear that the currency may lose its value at any time.
• Popularization of cryptocurrency. Virtual currencies, backed by traditional money, inspire more confidence in investors.

Disadvantages of stablecoins

• Stablecoin exchanges verify their clients. Part of the crypto community believes that one of their main principles suffers from this — anonymity.
• The first stablecoin, Tether, was created in 2015. Subsequent stablecoins have no original idea.
• Centralization — all support is with the project owner. Therefore, it is recommended to study the history of the company and its owner well before purchasing a stablecoin.

Implementation of stablecoins in blockchains

USDT was originally launched on the Bitcoin blockchain using the Omni Layer protocol. Today USDT is available on other blockchains including Ethereum, Tron, Binance Coin and EOSIO.

Paxos is available on the Ethereum blockchain.

USD Coin was originally available on the Ethereum blockchain. Recently blockchains Algorand, Solana and Stellar joined USDC support.

TrueUSD is available on the Ethereum blockchain. Integration of TrueUSD with the Avalanche blockchain is planned for the first quarter of 2021.

FixedFloat currently supports USDT on the Ethereum and Tron blockchains. Paxos, USD Coin and TrueUSD are available on the Ethereum blockchain.

FixedFloat stablecoins

Comparative table of stablecoins relevant for March 2021

Source: fixedfloat.com

Features and disadvantages of stablecoins was originally published in FixedFloat on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

In the early years of the Bitcoin network, cryptocurrency was considered completely anonymous. However, over time, technicians have learned to track and deanonymize Bitcoin transactions. Then the developers of some new cryptocurrencies decided to add the ability to send truly anonymous transactions to their currencies.

Today there are 3 popular anonymous cryptocurrencies. These are Dash, ZCash and Monero. Let us compare the privacy mechanisms used in these currencies.

Dash. CoinJoin method

There are two types of transactions in Dash cryptocurrency: regular and transactions with increased privacy, using the optional “PrivateSend” function. The PrivateSend function is based on the CoinJoin method. The essence of this method is to divide one transaction into many and mix these transactions with each other.

It should be noted that for Bitcoin there are similar services — mixers. However, in Dash this functionality is built into the protocol, and for Bitcoin all services are private developments, some of which may turn out to be fraudulent.

Note that the CoinJoin method hides the flow of funds and limits the ability to directly track transactions, but does not guarantee their complete anonymity.

Zcash. Zero-Knowledge protocol

Zcash was the first cryptocurrency that could not only increase the confidentiality of transactions, but really anonymize them: Zcash payments are published in a public blockchain, but the sender, recipient and transaction amount can be hidden. Zcash uses the zk-SNARK protocol, based on the Zero-Knowledge principle of evidence. The Zero-Knowledge protocol does not record complete information on the blockchain, making it virtually impossible to get from the network.

Like Dash, Zcash cryptocurrency has both regular and private transactions. However, her implementation is different. Zcash cryptocurrency has 2 types of addresses:

• z-address — protected by a protocol of evidence of zero disclosure;
• t-address — public open source similar to bitcoin.

Transactions can be sent both from a z-address to a t-address, and vice versa. And this is the main problem of the anonymity of this cryptocurrency.

When coins are moved from “unsecured” to “secure” addresses and then back, the overall anonymity of transactions decreases by 69.1%. Translations involving different types of addresses are much less anonymous, and by tracking user behavior, you can even get information about z-addresses.

Monero CryptoNote Protocol

Cryptocurrency Monero uses the CryptoNote protocol in which when sending a transaction, you can not see either the sender, the recipient, or even the amount that was sent. Unique technologies are used: Ring Signatures and Stealth Addresses, as well as the interchangeability of Monero coins (fungibility). To confirm the sending of funds, special private keys are used. This makes Monero the most anonymous cryptocurrency available.

At the moment, there has not been a single precedent for hacking or decrypting Monero transactions, although some research groups point out the shortcomings of the mixing algorithm and argue that some Monero transactions can be decrypted.

Unlike Dash and Zcash, Monero has no public non-anonymous transactions at all.

Conclusions

Today, Monero is the most technologically advanced cryptocurrency in terms of privacy. Now only in it there are no opportunities to reduce anonymity. Other aspects of the currencies in question were not taken into account, as the ratio of regulators to these currencies.

We examined only the 3 largest anonymous cryptocurrencies, although there are also other currencies aimed at maintaining confidentiality and protecting personal data, their list will probably grow over time.

Source: fixedfloat.com

Anonymity of cryptocurrencies was originally published in FixedFloat on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Since XMR is a completely anonymous cryptocurrency, information in transactions is also encrypted and inaccessible to everyone. In order to prove the sending of funds, the transaction can be decrypted. In this article, we will consider how to confirm sending to a specific address and see the amount that was sent to this address.

To decrypt the transaction you will need:

1. Tx hash of transaction (transaction number).
2. The address to which the transaction was sent.
3. Tx private key (private key of this transaction).

Private key is available only to the sender. If your wallet does not have the function of obtaining a private transaction key, in order to receive it, you need to contact the technical support of your wallet or exchange where the transaction was sent from.

We want to pay attention to the fact that some wallets or exchanges may refuse to issue private keys to their users due to the peculiarities of developing their services.

Transcript of the transaction on the site monerohash.com

To decrypt the transaction, follow the link, insert into the Tx hash field of our transaction and click “Lookup”.

After loading the page, you can see general information about the transaction, which is available to everyone. At the very bottom of the page, click on the item in the “Prove sending” form. Insert Tx private key and address:

Press the “Prove” button and after loading the page we get the result of the transaction decryption, which is proof that the transaction was sent to the correct address. When decrypting a transaction, you can also get information about the amount of the transaction, which can also serve as evidence.

If incorrect or false information was entered when decrypting a transaction, then you will receive an error that the transaction cannot be decrypted.

Source: fixedfloat.com

How to prove Monero transaction? was originally published in FixedFloat on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Exchanges and exchangers require a different number of confirmations when accepting deposits. Users often ask the question “Why so many?” This is due to two reasons: security or the desire of the exchange to retain users’ funds.

Safety of exchanges and services

There is a problem that multiple transaction confirmations help to combat: block splitting, which can lead to double spending.

Branching of blocks — there is a possibility that several new parallel blocks can be formed simultaneously from one block. At this point, the transaction chain splits. When the complexity and length of chains are equal, preference is given to the one whose final block appeared earlier. Transactions that have entered only the bounced branch lose their confirmed status. These transactions can return to the queue and end up in a new block. But it also happens that unconfirmed transactions are lost. Traders and exchanges can set their own threshold as to how many blocks are required for funds to be considered confirmed.

Double spending — repeated spending. Before the transaction is verified and completed, the funds remain in the wallet, which means that in the interval between sending the transaction and the fact of its completion after verification, a repeated payment is possible.

Attack 51% — when an attacker captures 51% of the network’s hash power. Sometimes a large amount of confirmations are required due to early incidents with a particular currency. For example, in 2018, a hacker attack was carried out on the Bitcoin Gold (BTG) hard fork. One solution to the problem was an increase in the number of confirmations required to withdraw crypto funds from exchanges. Bitcoin Gold developers have recommended to cryptocurrency exchanges and exchangers to increase the number of confirmations up to 50 blocks required to deposit coins to a client’s account.

Withholding funds

Some exchanges deliberately require a large number of confirmations in order to keep users’ funds in their account as long as possible and dispose of them at their discretion. With the help of holding funds, the exchange subsequently conducts profitable transactions. For example, if a large amount of a particular currency arrives at the exchange, the owners of the exchange can sell that currency in advance.

Also, retention of funds significantly complicates the work of people who earn on the difference in rates of different exchanges. This prevents them from making quick deals.

Source: fixedfloat.com

Why do exchangers put multiple network confirmations? was originally published in FixedFloat on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

What is the Replace by fee?

A situation arises when you want to cancel or replace a transaction. This may be due to the fact that transactions do not enter the block for a long time. All operations that were not added to the block after launch are considered unconfirmed. Unconfirmed transactions most often happen precisely because of the low fees. Such transactions still have the ability to become processed.

In the blockchains Bitcoin, Ethereum and others, there is a mechanism that allows you to replace an unconfirmed transaction with another transaction with a higher commission (transaction fee). This mechanism is called Replace by Fee.

Accelerating transactions by increasing fees

The difference between Ethereum and Bitcoin is that each transaction has a sequence number (nonce). Therefore, in order to use the Replace by fee function, the transaction to be replaced and replaced must have one number.

Nonce tells miners and nodes about the order of transactions and, accordingly, how to change the “account state”. The first to be accepted is the transaction with the smaller nonce. If there are two transactions with the same nonce, then the one with the higher commission will be accepted.

1. Open the wallet that you used to send the original transaction.
2. Fill in the “Recipient” field, indicating the address to which you want to send.
3. Change the value of the “Amount” field from 0 to the amount of ETH you want to send.
4. When sending a standard transaction in ETH, you can use the fuel limit of 21,000. If you are sending tokens, increase the limit to around 100,000. Otherwise, just leave the default.
5. Increase the value of the “Fuel Price” field by 10 GWEI, compared to your previous transaction. If it is an urgent transaction, you can increase it more. Keep in mind that the higher the gas price, the higher the transaction fee (gas limit * gas price).
6. Make sure the value in the Nons field is the same as in the previous transaction. If so, then do not change the value in the field. If you change it, then this transaction will not replace the previous one.
7. Click the “Submit Transaction” button.
8. The hash of the new transaction will appear. Click on the link to view it and see if you got it. If it doesn’t appear right away, try refreshing the page after a few minutes.

Canceling a transaction

In order to prevent the “passing” of the previous transaction, its extraction and inclusion in the blockchain, you need to create a transaction in the amount of 0 ETH to your own address.

1. Go to Etherscan.io or Ethplorer.io.
2. Insert your transaction hash.
   • If the status of the transaction is Pending, then you can try to cancel it.
   • If the transaction is not found, press the button again, waiting a few minutes between each press. If that doesn’t work, chances are your transaction was not sent.
   • If the status of the transaction is Success, then you cannot cancel it.
3. If the status is Pending, log into the wallet that you used to send the original transaction to MEW.
4. Send yourself a transaction with a balance of 0 ETH.
5. Click the Submit Transaction button.
6. A dialog box will appear. Click the “Yes, I’m sure” button to submit it.
7. The hash of the new transaction will appear. Click on the link to view it and see if you got it. If it doesn’t appear right away, try refreshing the page after a few minutes.

Speeding up a transaction with Child Pays for Parent

In ETH, the Child Pays for Parent option is not possible. Wanting to speed up the transaction with higher fees, an ETH user can only send the same transaction with the same nonce with a higher gas price. The miner adds only one transaction with the best commission to the block. Two transactions with the same nonce cannot be added to a block.

Source: fixedfloat.com

Replacing and canceling Ethereum transactions was originally published in FixedFloat on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

What is the Replace by fee?

A situation arises when you want to cancel or replace a transaction. This may be due to the fact that transactions do not enter the block for a long time. All operations that were not added to the block after launch are considered unconfirmed. Unconfirmed transactions most often happen precisely because of the low fees. Such transactions still have the ability to become processed.

In the blockchains Bitcoin, Ethereum and others, there is a mechanism that allows you to replace an unconfirmed transaction with another transaction with a higher commission (transaction fee). This mechanism is called Replace by Fee.

Accelerating transactions by increasing fees

The replacement of transactions was envisaged by the creator of the system, Satoshi Nakamoto, but turned off at a certain moment. It was then modified to RBF and included in Bitcoin Core 0.12 and older. For replacement, a special nSequence field is provided in the transaction data, which signals which transaction is older. For a transaction to be potentially replaceable, the nSequence must be less than (0xffffffff — 1).

By default, most modern wallets nSequence immediately set the maximum, and the ability to replace transactions must be enabled in the settings.

Replace by fee adds a new commission to an existing transaction. During the creation of a transaction, the wallet adds a comment, which indicates the right to change the commission after the transfer is queued for processing. For this, for example, the Electrum wallet has an add-on “edit fees manually” and also “replace by fee”.

Before sending coins, you need to make sure that the “replaceable” option is enabled in the wallet. If the transaction is not confirmed for a long time, you can increase the payment transfer. Select a stuck transaction in the wallet history and set a new additional commission.

By activating the RBF option, you inform the networks that you are ready to pay more in the event of a delay, and the new transfer is automatically accepted instead of the old one. Bitcoin wallets Bitcoin core, Electrum and Green Address have such a function.

Speeding up a transaction with Child Pays for Parent

Most transactions not only send BTC to the recipient but also return “change”. This change can be spent on the next transaction. The CPFP function can be used by both the sender and the recipient of funds.

A new transaction (for example, between your addresses) with a high commission is attached to the expected transaction with a low fee. Some wallets allow you to do this even before the transaction is confirmed. Thus, for these two transactions, the total commission will be taken into account, on the value of which the speed of inclusion of a bundle of transactions into a block will depend.

If the wallet does not allow the use of unconfirmed change, you can send yourself all the funds that are in the wallet.

Not all miners support CPFP at the moment. However, they are enough for your transaction to be confirmed in the next blocks.

Canceling a transaction

If the Bitcoin transaction is confirmed, then the cancellation is not possible. But if the transaction has no confirmations, then you can do this in the following way: send a repeated payment from the same address output to any of your addresses, but with a higher commission than the previous transaction. The first will be the transaction that has the higher commission, and the second is automatically liquidated.

Source: fixedfloat.com

Replacing and canceling Bitcoin transactions was originally published in FixedFloat on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

When working with cryptocurrency, each user sooner or later comes across the concept of “consolidation”. This can happen in a situation when a lot of transactions have been received on your Bitcoin wallet, and when sending funds, the fee becomes significantly higher than average. Or you may have noticed that the exchangers take into account the consolidation fee when calculating the final rate. So what is consolidation?

Consolidation. The concepts of “entrance” and “exit” of a transaction

First, you need to figure out what the entrance and output of a transaction is. Let’s look at an example.

Alice sent 0.5 BTC to Bob. This transaction can be decomposed into 3 fragments:

• Entrance. It contains information about where Alice got BTC from.
• Sum. The number of coins sent.
• Exit. Bob’s Bitcoin address.

As a result, Bob now has 1 sum for 0.5 BTC. Later, he received a transaction with 0.6 BTC. And there were 2 entrances. Let’s imagine that Bob needed to send 0.7 BTC. For this transaction, 2 entrances with 0.5 and 0.6 BTC will be used.
The Bitcoin blockchain is designed so that the more entrances a user uses, the higher the transaction fee. To reduce the commission, Bob can send all the coins in his wallet (1.1 BTC) to his own address. After completing this transaction, he will have 1 entrance for 1.1 BTC.

This is consolidation — unification of funds at one address. It is beneficial to carry out this operation to reduce the fee. For example: one transaction with two entrances will have a lower fee than two transactions with one entrance. The more entrances you consolidate, the more efficient the operation.

Consolidation in different cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin allows you to combine all addresses into one wallet. Consolidation can be done in 1 transaction by sending coins from different entrances to one address.

In the Ethereum network, multiple entrances cannot be combined to send to one main address. For consolidation, it is required to send funds from each address in a separate transaction.

The XRP network uses one address. There is a special field (destination tag, memo) to identify the payment, so no consolidation is required. All coins go to one address.

FixedFloat charges a commission when exchanging funds, which includes the amount required to send coins and the amount that will be used to consolidate the client’s funds. The amount to be consolidated is calculated per entrance. Its specific amount depends on the network load.

How to save on fees on the Bitcoin network with consolidation?

As mentioned earlier, the more entrances you have, the higher the fee for sending transactions from your wallet will be. With the help of consolidation, you can reduce the fee. To do this, you can send the entire amount of your wallet to your own address. It is advantageous to do this during periods of low network load with a minimum fee (1 satoshi). The transaction will take a long time to confirm, but after that it will be possible to send coins without overpaying for the fee.

Consolidation is worth doing, provided that you do not need to send BTC in the near future. Alternatively, you can consolidate only part of the entrances so that some of the funds remain intact.

Source: fixedfloat.com

What is consolidation in cryptocurrencies? was originally published in FixedFloat on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.