estimatesmartfee returns 50 sat/vB on an empty mempool for inclusion in 1008 blocks #26304

1. 
   antonilol commented at 2:54 pm on October 13, 2022: none

   Expected behavior

   when the mempool is empty, i expect something really low, at least smaller than 3 sat/vB, but not 50 sat/vB

   Actual behavior

   0$ bitcoin-cli -testnet estimatesmartfee 1
   1{
   2  "feerate": 0.00050106,
   3  "blocks": 2
   4}
   

   0$ bitcoin-cli -testnet estimatesmartfee 1008
   1{
   2  "feerate": 0.00050106,
   3  "blocks": 111
   4}
   

   To reproduce

   run bitcoin-cli -testnet estimatesmartfee on the testnet when the difficulty drops to 1 (happens every few months or so i dont know why)

   System information

   bitcoincore.org download v23

   Any extra information that might be useful in the debugging process.

   blocks were flowing in like every few seconds a block got mined

2. antonilol added the label Bug on Oct 13, 2022
3. 
   aureleoules commented at 3:03 pm on October 13, 2022: member

   when the difficulty drops to 1 (happens every few months or so i dont know why)

   See the fresh new #26303.

4. maflcko removed the label Bug on Oct 17, 2022
5. maflcko added the label Tests on Oct 17, 2022
6. 
   maflcko commented at 4:39 pm on October 17, 2022: member

   I don’t think anything can be done here. Seems overkill to adjust estimatesmartfee to accommodate a broken test network. Have you tried signet?
7. maflcko added the label Questions and Help on Oct 17, 2022
8. 
   antonilol commented at 7:24 pm on October 18, 2022: none

   Have you tried signet?

   it works fine on the signet, empty mempool there and it almost always stays close to 1 sat/vB, just like the testnet when block speed is normal it just feels really counter-intuitive to get a high fee estimation when blocks are mined really fast and the mempool is empty

9. 
   adamjonas commented at 9:06 pm on March 3, 2023: member

   I don’t think anything can be done here

   This appears to be something that isn’t going to be picked up in the near future.

10. adamjonas closed this on Mar 3, 2023

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11. bitcoin locked this on Mar 2, 2024

Contributors
antonilol aureleoules maflcko adamjonas

Labels
Tests Questions and Help