Misconfiguration in V39 Mainnet Release Leads to Incorrect Allocation of HBARs

July 11th Error: A Detailed Overview

During the V39 mainnet release on July 11th, an inadvertent misconfiguration occurred. This pertained to the setting that controls fee payments to account 0.0.800. Under normal circumstances, the allocation of network fees is divided as such: 90% to operations under account 0.0.98 and 10% to staking rewards under account 0.0.800.

However, due to this misconfiguration, from July 11th to September 15th, the entirety of these fees was directed to operations (account 0.0.98).

Corrective Measures Taken

Upon detecting this error, Hedera (HBAR) promptly took action. A change was authorized to rectify this setting. As of September 15, the configuration was corrected, ensuring that 10% of the transaction fees are now correctly funneled into account 0.0.800.

Impact of the Misconfiguration

The implications of this misconfiguration were not insubstantial. In the period this error persisted, approximately 1.5 million HBARs were wrongly allocated to account 0.0.98.

Hedera’s (HBAR) Staking System: An Insight

The underpinning ethos of Hedera’s (HBAR) staking system is to buttress the long-term security of the mainnet, especially when nodes operate in a permissionless manner. Consequently, the Hedera (HBAR) Governing Council does not fuel the staking rewards account directly. This is a noteworthy distinction. Nevertheless, in a show of support and commitment, other contributors have recently donated a substantial 60 million HBARs to the staking rewards account.