The Bitcoin Network
IN THIS lesson we will learn how to cancel a pending transaction on bitcoin.
Many say that the time it takes for a transaction to confirm on the Bitcoin Network is a feature, not a bug, and this is one of the arguments for it being a feature. As long as a BTC transaction has not been confirmed yet, you can cancel the transaction, we will understand more below.
Canceling a Transaction on Bitcoin
Most people don't know but you can "cancel” a pending transaction on BTC. I put cancel inside quotations because you are not actually canceling the transaction, you are just overriding it, by using the UTXO in that pending transaction in a second transaction with a higher fee, taking priority over and essentially making that UTXO in the transaction you are "canceling” unspendable.
Example:
I have a wallet with 0.5 BTC organized in 2 UTXOs of 0.25 BTC.
I minted an Ordinal for 0.1 BTC, using one of my 0.25 BTC UTXOs.
Turns out I don't want it anymore, and need the money for something else.
In order to "cancel” the transaction, I need to send that 0.25 BTC UTXO I used on the mint transaction to myself with a higher gas fee, overriding the mint transaction. - You can do this using the tool below.
A new transaction using that UTXO is posted to the mempool, and once it goes through all you will have spent is the gas fee of that second transaction.
Best tool for canceling a transaction is: https://runeblaster.io/cancel
Reminder: This is not free, as you are posting a second transaction to the mempool you will have to pay the gas fee.
Below is a video of how to cancel a transaction using the tool.