Antminer X9
Monero ASIC Miner
1000KH
HASHRATE
2.47W/KH
EFFICIENCY
2470W
POWER
£857.29
EST. MONTHLY
206
DAYS
EST. ROI
This guide explains Bitcoin Core incrementalrelayfee in plain English. It focuses on what the subject is, why it matters and what a beginner should remember.
TL;DR
- What it is: Bitcoin Core’s incrementalrelayfee defines the extra feerate used to price the bandwidth cost of relaying replacement transactions and to raise the mempool’s rolling minimum after eviction. The behaviour existed conceptually in 0.12 using a hard-coded default tied to minimum relay fee; PR 9380 separated the configurable option on 16 January 2017 for the 0.14 release.
- Why it matters: incrementalrelayfee prices relay and mempool churn rather than transaction validity. Correct tuning keeps it distinct from minimum relay, mining and dust policies and is verified with exact-release units and replacement tests.
- Current position: Bitcoin Core’s incrementalrelayfee defines the extra feerate used to price the bandwidth cost of relaying replacement transactions and to raise the mempool’s rolling minimum after eviction.
Bitcoin Core incrementalrelayfee in simple English
Bitcoin Core incrementalrelayfee: minrelaytxfee is a baseline policy threshold with other historical effects. Incrementalrelayfee prices an increment for replacement and eviction.
Simple example
A node operator is checking Bitcoin Core incrementalrelayfee. Before PR 9380, several policy concepts inherited minRelayTxFee, so raising one operational threshold unintentionally changed replacement cost, dust and mining policy.
Key terms in plain English
- BIP:
- Bitcoin Improvement Proposal: a document describing a proposed rule, standard or process. Its status must be checked separately.
- Bitcoin Core:
- Widely used software that validates Bitcoin and can provide wallet, network and operator tools.
- Mempool:
- A node’s changing local collection of valid, unconfirmed transactions.
- Node:
- A computer running Bitcoin software that checks data and communicates with other peers.
Why the fee was separated
Before PR 9380, several policy concepts inherited minRelayTxFee, so raising one operational threshold unintentionally changed replacement cost, dust and mining policy. The change created distinct incremental relay, dust relay and block-minimum controls. Separation let operators price different resources without coupling unrelated wallet and output behaviour.
Replacement bandwidth rule
Under BIP 125-style replacement, the new transaction must pay at least the originals’ absolute fees plus an extra amount based on its size and the incremental relay feerate. This discourages repeated network-wide replacements that add negligible fee while consuming relay bandwidth. Other replacement rules still apply.
Mempool rolling minimum
When a bounded mempool evicts low-feerate packages, its effective minimum rises above the evicted package by an increment. The threshold decays over time under release-specific logic. It is local and dynamic, so two healthy nodes can accept different transactions without disagreeing on block validity.
Not minrelaytxfee
minrelaytxfee is a baseline policy threshold with other historical effects. Incrementalrelayfee prices an increment for replacement and eviction. Blockmintxfee governs template inclusion for miners, and dustrelayfee defines an economic output threshold. Names and units must be verified for the exact release.
Mining and wallet effects
A wallet constructing a replacement needs enough absolute fee increase for peers, not just a higher feerate. A mining pool may accept local transactions differently yet still depend on propagation through other nodes. Monitor rejected replacements and mempool minimums across primary and failover rather than copying one node’s result.
Units and version drift
Historical options used BTC per kilobyte wording while modern interfaces may report satoshis per virtual byte or virtual kilobyte. Decimal parsing and unit conversion are financial controls. Never paste a value from a modern guide into an old release or vice versa without converting and checking startup output.
How specialists test it
Developers test the proposal with made-up data on an isolated test network. They check normal cases and deliberately invalid cases. Different implementations should reach the same result before anyone relies on the proposal.
Frequently asked questions
What is the main point of Bitcoin Core incrementalrelayfee?
Bitcoin Core incrementalrelayfee: minrelaytxfee is a baseline policy threshold with other historical effects. Incrementalrelayfee prices an increment for replacement and eviction.
For Bitcoin Core incrementalrelayfee, why the fee was separated?
Before PR 9380, several policy concepts inherited minRelayTxFee, so raising one operational threshold unintentionally changed replacement cost, dust and mining policy.
For Bitcoin Core incrementalrelayfee, what should a beginner know about replacement bandwidth rule?
Under BIP 125-style replacement, the new transaction must pay at least the originals’ absolute fees plus an extra amount based on its size and the incremental relay feerate.
For Bitcoin Core incrementalrelayfee, what should a beginner know about mempool rolling minimum?
When a bounded mempool evicts low-feerate packages, its effective minimum rises above the evicted package by an increment.
Conclusion
incrementalrelayfee prices relay and mempool churn rather than transaction validity. Correct tuning keeps it distinct from minimum relay, mining and dust policies and is verified with exact-release units and replacement tests.
Primary sources
Check the current specification status and the documentation for the exact implementation you operate before moving production funds or changing a mining node.
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