A interesting TX generated by Electrum

[JamesIV]

Does anyone know how I managed to generate this TX?

https://blockchain.info/tx/48074345f2ec4a1064ee037c68ed86854aebf09dfc066dab6996c95374e95192

Obviously the output of 0.0000496 is the problem but why did Electrum allow this to go through. Seems like there should be safe guards to stop this.

Anyway I just found it a interesting transaction.

[achow101]

I don't think that output is considered dust. AFAIK the dust threshold is 2730 satoshis, and that output is a little more than double that.

[JamesIV]

I thought even sending 1 satoshi was be fine as long as the fee was of an appropriate size.

For example: sending 0.00000001 with a 0.0002 fee would go through without issue.

Maybe I am just grossly misinformed.

[achow101]

I thought even sending 1 satoshi was be fine as long as the fee was of an appropriate size.

For example: sending 0.00000001 with a 0.0002 fee would go through without issue.

Maybe I am just grossly misinformed.

You are misinformed. There are small outputs called dust which, if a dust output is detected, won't be relayed or accepted to mempools since transactions with dust outputs are considered non-standard. The dust threshold changes with the minimum transaction relay fee which is set by each node (meaning the dust threshold changes for each node). The current default is 2370 satoshis. It used to be 546 satoshis.

[Small]

I thought even sending 1 satoshi was be fine as long as the fee was of an appropriate size.

For example: sending 0.00000001 with a 0.0002 fee would go through without issue.

Maybe I am just grossly misinformed.

It can go through if miners choose to accept them. It depends on the policy of them accepting the transaction. The reference client would not relay any transaction with ANY output lower than 2730 satoshis unless the minimum fee for it to relay is changed.  https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/ad57b310bac44a7e470cf66276421f2bbc61b1f0/src/primitives/transaction.h#L155