Bitcoin transactions require a fee, incentivizing miners to include them in the next block. If the demand for transactions in the network increases, miners will prioritize transactions with higher fee rates. This means, if your transaction's fee rate is too low, you will have to wait for fees to calm down again.

If you don't want to wait, there is a way to replace your transaction with a higher fee to effectively speed up its confirmation time. This is called "Replace-by-Fee" or "RBF" for short and currently not available directly in the BitBoxApp. However, the BitBoxApp does prepare all transactions to be eligible for replacement.

This guide shows you how to increase the fee rate of your stuck transaction using Sparrow Wallet together with your BitBox02. You can download Sparrow Wallet here or read more about this wallet software in our blog first.

Replace-by-Fee

When using RBF, the pending transaction is simply created, signed and broadcasted again, but with a higher fee rate instead. Because miners will prioritize transactions with higher fees, this replacement transaction will be confirmed faster, automatically invalidating the old and still pending transaction.

Using Sparrow Wallet

If you need help using Sparrow Wallet, take a look this blog post, where we explain how to set up and use this wallet software with your BitBox02.

Using RBF in Sparrow Wallet

To increase the fee rate of your pending transaction, follow these steps:

• Locate the pending transaction in the transaction overview
• Right-click on it and select “Increase fee (RBF)”

You can now configure the replacement transaction. The important part here is setting the new transaction fee rate.

You can rely on Sparrow Wallet and its fee estimation to set a desired value. For example, by selecting "Target Blocks" and setting the slider on "1" you would aim for confirmation in the next block. Be careful, this might be expensive!

Alternatively, open a Bitcoin explorer such as mempool.space and check for current fee rate recommendations yourself (the value below "High priority" aims for confirmation in the next block).

• Once you have entered the new fee rate, click on "Create transaction" to continue
• This final confirmation screen shows a lot of technical details. Simply click "Sign" here and select your BitBox02.
• Verify all transaction details and the new fee rate on the device screen. Confirm the transaction if all details are correct.
• To send the signed transaction, click "Broadcast" now.

You can now close Sparrow Wallet. If your new fee rate is high enough, the replacement transaction should confirm within the next hour. In theory, you can repeat this process several times, in case fee rates are increasing rapidly, and your new fee rate is, again, too low.