Replace By Fee creates additional receiving transaction with 608 outputs

[chrade]

Being a newbie that wants to test rbf, I sent 0,00008 btc from my legacy to my segwit wallet with around 15 sat/byte, I think initially, and after couple of days increased with rbf to 20 sat/byte. 

I now see, that one day before the 0,00008 finally confirmed in my receiving wallet, there was another receiving transaction at the same address with 0,00000547, and clicking at "view transaction" it shows 1 input, but 608 outputs.

The first ones look unusual, to me at least 

Code:

1Lets1xxxx1use1xxxxxxxxxxxy2EaMkJ	     0.00000547
1fuLL1xxxx1power1xxxxxxxxxxzatvCK	     0.00000547
1of1xxxxx1anonymity1xxxxxxxz9JzFN	     0.00000547
1See1xxxx1memo1xxxxxxxxxxxxxBuhPF	     0.00000547
1dot1xxxxx1sv1xxxxxxxxxxxxxwYqEEt	     0.00000547
1topic1xxx1hmwyda1xxxxxxxxxvo8wMn	     0.00000547
1xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxy1kmdGr	     0.00000547
1hxGEmBzgq5ajxV3Bwok3ZoznbDvVnMKS	     0.00000547
1QFSqoGYvRt14BjLy4uW4uYyd3eXtx46kn	     0.00000547
1Kq3u251CDLWA9Q1QxfgV7bniPPyVY8Vd8	     0.00000547

and the last ones show this very large amount 

Code:

1CgcHCJLpmv9smAHACawqjngUNXfTK2vnW	     0.00000547
32ZyPi4mcCyQzzimPFx7CzaNFpqo4NZQAe	     0.00000547
38VxrMr6uqBw9LiTwfA7KRUJYw5ta3P4y3	     0.00000547
bc1q5lp47pgt3tnjr6p9pmnrgxdnf2usswusp0n7kg	     0.00000547
1Lcijfte9ZhMKwMZFnXtxMj7x16ezx2Dgi	     0.00000547
3HgC1PThXfvngoAzmaYaQybRc1foTebFrQ	     0.00000547
1PRZKLnosh28cMHQBTopVWY9VsThCPMuds	     0.00000547
39gMkotoGo163ke5fxsoifdq4BKBHTmK8w	     0.00000547
bc1qrhy27g74l8x5zakjn9hq8zmk8gmzjuqtjnhpa4	    [b]16.38010065[/b]

Is this normal? Is it like change leftover from the fee?

I'm planning to move all my funds from my legacy to my segwit wallet, so I am wondering if it would be safe to use rbf with a large amount.

[hosseinimr93]

The transaction you received is a dust attack and has nothing to do with your RBF Transaction.

Someone has sent the minimum possible amount to several addresses probably to link some addresses together.
If you spend bitcoin, your wallet will combine that 547 satoshi with other UTXOs and your addresses will be linked together.

For protecting your privacy, go to "Coins" tab, right-click on any UTXO worth 547 satoshi and select "Freeze coin".
If the "Coins" tab in not available, click on "View" at top of the window and select "Show coins".

[Charles-Tim]

That was truly a dust attack, replace-by-fee will not create multiple transactions like that, only the transaction you pumped will be confirmed, not external transactions. RBF is completely safe to use, so far it is 0.00008BTC you sent, transaction only pertaining to it would be seen, others are just dust attack to be used to link addresses on your wallet through any transaction you make from the wallet. So, before making any transaction, you need to freeze all the coins.

[o_e_l_e_o]

So this isn't a "dust attack" in the usual sense of the phrase, in that its primary goal is not to link addresses together and compromise privacy. Instead it is using dust spamming to advertize a shitcoin, in this case, BSV. The message embedded in the first 6 addresses includes the phrase "see memo dot sv topic hmwyda". Turn that in to a URL, and it links here: https://memo.sv/topic/hmwyda. The first post in that topics talks about how to create valid bitcoin addresses which contain arbitrary text, just like the ones in this transaction (but obviously, without knowing the private key). I'm not entirely sure what that has to do with BSV, but it is advertising a BSV site nonetheless.

Imagine your coin being so completely worthless that you are forced to spam a real blockchain with advertising just so people will know it even exists.

Regardless, hosseinimr93 has given you the correct action to take - freeze that input and forget it even exists.

[chrade]

Thanks guys, I froze the input with the "freeze coin option"

but does it make a difference that it was received on the same address I received the 0,00008 from the rbf transaction?

[o_e_l_e_o]

but does it make a difference that it was received on the same address I received the 0,00008 from the rbf transaction?

Not at all. Address can store as many different outputs as you like on them and can be reused endlessly (although it is bad for privacy, as you have just discovered due to this attack). All your other transactions to and from this address will still work normally and will completely ignore these frozen coins. Having said that, it is good practice not to reuse addresses at all, so you could/should simply move on to using the next addresses in your Electrum wallet, and leave these coins frozen on this old address never to be used again.

[chrade]

So as I understand it, since I used "freeze coin" on the "dust", I can spend the 0,00008 I still have on the same address without being tracked by the dust.

[o_e_l_e_o]

So as I understand it, since I used "freeze coin" on the "dust", I can spend the 0,00008 I still have on the same address without being tracked by the dust.

Correct.

[HCP]

So as I understand it, since I used "freeze coin" on the "dust", I can spend the 0,00008 I still have on the same address without being tracked by the dust.

There are 2 options in Electrum... "Freeze Coin" and "Freeze Address"

Freezing a "coin", freezes a particular UTXO (Unspent Transaction Output). This means that Electrum will never ever attempt to use that UTXO when spending coins in a send transaction. Freezing an "address" on the other hand... will freeze ALL the UTXO's that are assigned to that particular address, so anything received at that address will not be used when spending coins in a send transaction.

Because you used "Freeze Coin" to freeze the specific "dust" UTXO, you can still spend the rest of the funds on that address.


NOTE: freezing an address does not stop Electrum from showing that address when you click "receive"!

[Abdussamad]

you can always be tracked since the blockchain is public. freezing or not freezing that output does nothing for your privacy in this instance.

[chrade]

I appreciate all the help. All of you clarified the issue from all possible angles. 

[hosseinimr93]

freezing or not freezing that output does nothing for your privacy in this instance.

It does.
Let's say you have used address A before and its balance is now 547 satoshi.
Now you want to spend the fund you have received in address B.
If you don't freeze that 547 satoshi and spend your total balance, your wallet will combine UTXOs received in address A and address B and every one can know that the owner of address A owns address B as well.

[Abdussamad]

OP already has unspent outputs sent to that address so they can know about associated addresses anyway just by viewing address A on a block explorer. now if there were no other utxos then it would make sense to freeze that dust.