What started as a typical account script turned into one of the strangest XRP Ledger glitches of the last few months. BitGo, a popular crypto custodian and wallet provider, accidentally released a flood of failed XRP transactions after one of its accounts ran out of a balance.
The issue started when BitGo's automation kept trying to activate new XRP accounts, each requiring the standard one XRP reserve fee. But once the wallet's funds were gone, the process did not stop. Instead, the script entered what looked like an endless cycle of sending small payments that could not be covered.
Soon, the on-chain trackers were full of thousands of "UNFUNDED PAYMENT" entries, which made the ledger's memepool quite cluttered with so many rejected transactions.
One of the first to notice something a bit fishy was XRPL contributor "Vet," who joked that BitGo's developers had "made infinite while loops." XRP Ledger's explorers showed that account-creation metrics briefly spiked to 11,000 in a single day before dropping once the wallet hit zero.
BitGo addresses mistakes
BitGo later confirmed their investigation, suggesting an internal automation misfire rather than a security incident. The exchange has since restored the account, topping the balance by 1,048 XRP to prevent further failed attempts.
Nevertheless, the episode shows how one faulty script can mess up blockchain activity across a whole network, even one as solid as XRP's. For now, the ledger is fine, and that rogue process that tried to send 1.2225 XRP has finally gone quiet.
Dan Burgin
Vladislav Sopov
U.Today Editorial Team