AntPool is among the biggest and most popular mining pools for cryptocurrencies worldwide.

AntPool intends to refund a large $3 million transaction fee, but only if the true owner can confirm their identity. In this case, moving 55.77 BTC—or almost $2.1 million — will cost an enormous 83.65 BTC (or around $3.1 million).

The transaction took place on November 23rd, with a charge that was more than 120,000 times what it should have been. The transaction not only broke records for the cost of a Bitcoin transaction, but it also demonstrated how rapidly conditions can change with digital currency.

What is a Mining Pool?

A mining pool is a group of miners who put their computing power in an effort to improve their odds of finding a block and getting paid. Miners can solve more blocks together and receive more reliable rewards by combining their resources.

How do Mining Pools Work?

Mining pools function by spreading the computing effort among the miners who participate. Every miner inside the pool provides their computational capacity to address the mathematical problems. The rewards are given to the miners according to their contribution after a block is successfully mined.

After understanding the main idea, back to our story: Anonymous hero
AntPool has placed a hold on the fee and is now requiring the sender of the transaction to authenticate their identity using a specific tool and a private key.

So, what is the private key? and its importance?

An asymmetric (public key) cryptographic algorithm that uses a cryptographic key. The private key for a digital signature is exclusively linked to the owner and is kept confidential. A digital signature is computed using the private key, and the matching public key can validate it.

a Bitcoin user “83_5BTC,”, claims they were hacked, which is what caused the enormous cost. The anonymous user thinks the wallet was compromised and that a script changed the charge amount, which is why it was so expensive. Although

Mononaut, a developer for Bitcoin tracker Mempool, has confirmed the legitimacy of the claim. However, some doubts are still present about whether a hack took place or not, despite the confirmation

Mononaut theorizes the problem may stem from utilizing a weak, easy-to-guess type of wallet. The transaction was also made faster using a special Bitcoin (BTC) feature, which could mean several hackers were trying to steal the money, pushing the fee up as they attempted to extract the funds before another cybercriminal could finalize the transaction.