When you transact BRC-20 tokens or Bitcoin on the Bitcoin blockchain, your transaction may get stuck and your assets may not reach to wallet due to low network fee selected. This is because miners prioritize transactions with higher fees.

When your transaction is pending and not confirmed, you can increase the network fee to have it included in the next block to confirm and facilitate faster confirmation.

To increase the network fee of an unconfirmed pending transaction, you can import your Bitcoin wallet into Electrum. However, when you already have an Electrum wallet, there is no need to import it elsewhere.

Can I increase the network fee for my Bitcoin transaction?

Check the deposit address of wallet that you used to make the transaction. When it starts with bc1p, then it is a Taproot address. Taproot addresses do not yet supportive for network fee increase. For non-taproot addresses, you can increase the network fee of your stuck transaction.

Second, enter your transaction ID on a mempool to see either RBF is green or red. When it is green, you can increase the network fee of the stuck transaction. However, you cannot increase the network fee when the wallet address is Taproot, although RBF is green.

Increase Network Fee of Unconfirmed Pending Bitcoin Transaction

Step 1: Install Electrum Wallet

To install the Electrum wallet on your device, visit the Electrum wallet homepage. Click on the Download button to initiate the download process.

Choose your operating system (Don't use mobile device) and click on the version that best suits your device. For example, when you are using a Windows, click on the Windows Installer link.

When you have clicked on the link, the Electrum wallet download will start. Once downloaded, open the downloaded file on your device. Click Install.

Installation will begin. It may take a few moments to be installed. Click Close.

Step 2: Import Your Bitcoin wallet to Electrum

The Electrum Bitcoin wallet will have downloaded to your device. Open it in your device. Select Auto connect. Click Next.

You will be prompted to enter a name for the wallet file. This file will be saved on your computer and will contain all of your Bitcoin addresses and balances.

Now click Next.

Select Standard wallet. Then, click Next.

Select  I already have a seed and click Next.

Enter your 12-word seed phrase of any bitcoin wallet.

Sometimes when you enter your seed phrase in Electrum, the Next button may not be enabled. When this is the case, click Options and select BIP39 seed.

Otherwise, you can opt for SLIP39 seed. Once you have selected a seed type, click OK. Now, click Next.

Some Bitcoin wallets allow you to have three different types of Bitcoin deposit addresses within one wallet. When you're importing such wallet, Electrum asks you to choose which type of address you want to use on Electrum.

In most cases, Electrum will not give you this option because not all wallets support multiple types of Bitcoin deposit addresses.

Select the address where your Bitcoin transaction is stuck and you want to increase its network fee. We select native segwit. Click Next.

P2SH-segwit is actually a nested segwit. Check the deposit address of the wallet you are trying to import in the UniSat wallet, and choose the address type here accordingly:

Choose a strong password to encrypt your wallet. This will protect your bitcoins from unauthorized access whenever your computer is stolen. You will not need this password to restore your wallet from a backup seed. Click Next to import your wallet.

Your Bitcoin wallet is now imported into your Electrum wallet.

Step 3: Increase Network Fee of Uncofirmed Pending Bitcoin Transaction

Electrum Wallet will take a few moments to scan all your confirmed transactions in the history tab. Unconfirmed pending Bitcoin transaction may not show here yet.

Navigate to Tools>Load transaction and click From the blockchain.

Enter your unconfirmed pending transaction ID and click OK.

Now your unconfirmed pending Bitcoin transactions will appear under the history tab in 1-12 hours.

Right-click on the unconfirmed pending Bitcoin transaction. Select Increase Fee.

Electrum will suggest you the new network fee rate depending on your Bitcoin balance in the wallet.

You also have the option to manually adjust the fee rate. Simply click on the settings icon.

Select Edit fees manually.

Now Electrum allows you to set a custom fee rate of your choice. However, there are instances where Electrum may prevent you from increasing the network fee rate beyond the initially suggested fee (7.8 in our case).

This limitation occurs when Electrum cannot find suitable outputs for the transaction.

Select the fee, and Electrum will display the additional amount you will pay from your wallet. Click OK to proceed.

Enter your Electrum wallet password. Click Ok.

Your transaction will be resent to the mempool with the new network fee.

The fee target displayed by Electrum, indicating the number of blocks it will take for your transaction to be confirmed, is often unreliable and not very useful. It is advisable not to rely on this information and not give it much attention.

Final Reflections

The transaction will be sent again to the Bitcoin network with a higher fee. It is more likely to be included in a block sooner when the network fee is higher. Once the transaction is included in a block, it will be confirmed.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Who is CEO of Electrum wallet?

Electrum was created by Thomas Voegtlin in 2011. He is the current lead developer of Electrum and is responsible for its overall design and architecture.

2. Where to get support from Electrum wallet team?

The Electrum developers do not offer direct support to users. You can find support from the community on the Bitcoin forum. This blog also has a lot of resources for people who are using the Electrum Bitcoin wallet.

3. How can I determine the appropriate network fee for my Bitcoin transaction?

To decide on the new network fee for your Bitcoin transaction, you can check the mempool, which provides information on fee rates that are attracting attention from Bitcoin miners. By observing the fee rates that are being successfully included in blocks, you can select a suitable network fee rate for your transaction.

4. How to convert mBTC to BTC?

Mili Bitcoin (mBTC) is a small unit of Bitcoin. You can convert mBTC to BTC using this converter.

5. Will I lose my previous fee when I replace a transaction with a new fee?

No, you will not lose your previous fee. When you replace a transaction with a new fee, the new fee will include the previous fee, and you will only need to pay the additional increase in the network fee.