Term

Opt-in RBF

A Bitcoin policy allowing unconfirmed transactions to be replaced by a higher-fee version from the same inputs.

Type:
policy
mempool
security
Also known as:
replace-by-fee (opt-in)
RBF
1
definition

Opt-in Replace-By-Fee (RBF) is a Bitcoin transaction relay policy that lets a sender replace an unconfirmed transaction with a new one paying a higher fee, provided the original signaled RBF or the network treats it as replaceable.

This improves fee-bumping and stuck tx recovery but reduces the reliability of zero-confirmation acceptance on networks that use it.

2
usage

RBF is useful for increasing fee rates during congestion. Wallets may expose "bump fee" or "speed up" features that rely on RBF.

3
caution

Merchants should avoid accepting 0-conf on chains or wallets that use RBF, or use additional risk checks.

All terms and definitions may update as the Cryptionary improves.