Boost transaction speed (RBF)

In this guide, you’ll learn how to accelerate a pending Bitcoin transaction in the Electrum wallet using Replace-by-Fee (RBF) — a mechanism that allows you to resend a transaction with a higher fee so miners confirm it faster.

📖 What you will learn

• understand how Replace-by-Fee (RBF) works in Electrum

• learn how to increase the transaction fee for an unconfirmed Bitcoin transaction

• practice sending a higher-fee replacement transaction to speed up confirmation

📚 Before we begin

Make sure you have:

• Electrum wallet installed

• a Bitcoin transaction that is still unconfirmed

• RBF enabled in your Electrum settings (Electrum enables it by default for new transactions)

📘 Theoretical part: Understanding RBF

Replace-by-Fee (RBF) allows a sender to rebroadcast a new version of a Bitcoin transaction with a higher fee, replacing the previous one in the mempool.

Step 1: Identify an unconfirmed transaction

If the fee was too low, miners may not pick it up. Such a transaction will remain pending.

Step 2: Create a replacement with a higher fee

Electrum allows you to resend the same transaction but with a higher fee rate.

Step 3: Miners confirm the new transaction

Once the new transaction enters the mempool, miners will usually choose it over the older, cheaper version.

🦄 Practical part: Speed up an unconfirmed transaction (RBF)

Step 1: Find the unconfirmed transaction

1. Open Electrum and go to the History tab.

2. Locate the transaction you want to accelerate.

   • It will not have a green checkmark.

   • Its status will be “Unconfirmed” or “Broadcasting”.

Step 2: Start the “Increase Fee” process

1. Right-click the unconfirmed transaction.

2. From the context menu, select Increase fee.

Step 3: Set a new, higher fee

A window titled “Confirm cancel an unconfirmed transaction…” will appear.

1. Check the current fee rate (e.g., 1 sat/vbyte).

2. In the New fee rate field, enter a higher value.

   • Important rule: the new fee must be higher than the previous one

   • Example: increase 1 sat/vbyte → 2 sat/vbyte

3. Make sure the new value is correctly shown before proceeding.

Step 4: Confirm the acceleration

1. Click OK.

2. Electrum will prompt you to enter your wallet password.

3. Enter your password and confirm the action.

Step 5: Verify the new fee

1. After Electrum broadcasts the replacement transaction, right-click it again in History.

2. Select Details.

3. In the information window, check the Fee field — it should now show the updated, higher fee rate (e.g., 2 sat/vbyte).

• This confirms that the RBF replacement transaction was successfully sent.

🥳 What's next?

You’ve successfully accelerated a Bitcoin transaction using RBF!

Now you can:

• experiment with different fee rates

• explore Electrum’s advanced fee controls

• monitor how fee changes affect confirmation time