Add a script for Signet or Regtest to unlock fee estimator #32105

1. 
   yellowred commented at 10:01 pm on March 20, 2025: none

   Please describe the feature you’d like to see added.

   Currently, the fee estimator won’t work in a private signet or regtest network, because there are usually not enough transactions being added. This forces clients to hardcode a default fee or have some custom logic for these networks. The proposal is to add a script to /contrib/signet that would simulate a transactions volume just enough to allow estimatesmartfee to work. It would be useful to have it in the bitcoin core repo, because:

   • the users will be able to build a container image that includes all the needed scripts from a single repo,
   • the transaction generator could reuse the miner wallet and access credentials.

   Is your feature related to a problem, if so please describe it.

   estimatesmartfee returns

   0{
   1  "errors": [
   2    "Insufficient data or no feerate found"
   3  ],
   4  "blocks": 3
   5}
   

   Describe the solution you’d like

   A script in python, similar to miner, that will work this way:

   1. generate a pool of addresses,
   2. using sendtoaddress broadcast 5-10 transactions with random amount 100-1000 sats and random fee to random addresses from the pool,
   3. wait 2 minutes,
   4. repeat from step 2.

   Describe any alternatives you’ve considered

   Using a bash script is less effort in the beginning, but can be hard to extend in the future. Forking bitcoin repo and adding the script to it adds upkeep costs for the maintainer.

   Please leave any additional context

   Inspired by https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues/11500

2. yellowred added the label Feature on Mar 20, 2025
3. maflcko added the label Scripts and tools on Mar 21, 2025

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