Sharkpool freezes $300,000 mining reward from botched Ethereum transaction

Cryptocurrency mining pool Sharkpool has frozen a 2,100 Ether mining fee that was accidentally sent in a transaction on Tuesday.

The transaction caught the attention of much of the community on social media, with 0.1 ETH ($14) being sent with a transaction fee of 2,100 ETH ($300,000).

The abnormal transaction was spotted by Cheetah Blockchain Security Centre, which is based in China.

The company also uncovered four more transactions sent to the same wallet, all of which had transaction fees ranging from 210 ETH to 840 ETH.

In response to the transactions, Sharkpool released a statement saying: “Sparkpool has recently mined a block with a 2,100 ETH mining reward, which was an anomaly that triggered our internal emergency mechanism.

“We have temporarily frozen this fee and are now waiting for the sender to contact us for a solution. If the sender does not reach out in the next few days, Sparkpool will then allocate the fees to miners who are entitled to the reward.”

Speculation has been rife on social media, with many suggesting that either Sharkpool was being paid by another entity or that wash trading was present.

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