This week McIntosh and Kenshin tackle the part of Bitcoin everyone thinks they understand… right up until a transaction gets stuck: fees, mempool dynamics, and UTXO hygiene. They frame fees as a live market for scarce blockspace, explain what you’re actually paying for (sats/vbyte), and show how transaction “weight” changes based on inputs/outputs—why a “cheap” fee rate can still be expensive if your transaction is big.

They also cover the two practical “escape hatches” when things go sideways—RBF (Replace-By-Fee) and CPFP (Child Pays For Parent)—plus why wallet fee estimators can be misleading and why mempool visibility matters. Finally, they get into UTXO management: why too many small UTXOs (“dust”) can become unspendable in high-fee environments, and why low-fee periods are the time to consolidate, not when you’re already in a firefight.

Bitcoin Price at Time of Recording

February 10, 2026: 68,907 USD | 57,884 Euro

Music Credits

Abel James
Voodoo Queen

Website

https://satoshis-plebs.com

Podcasting 2.0 Apps available at http://podcastapps.com and Value4Value information page available here: https://value4value.info

McIntosh can be reached by email at mcintosh@satoshis-plebs.com and on Twitter at @McIntoshFinTech. His mastodon handle is @mcintosh@podcastindex.social and his Nostr. Kenshin can be reached on Twitter at @kenshin_ninja or on Nostr. Kenshin’s email is kenshin@satoshis-plebs.com. You can also follow the Satoshi’s Plebs podcast account on Nostr. We are looking forward to hearing from you!

We are looking forward to hearing from you!

244 - Fees, Mempool, and UTXO Hygiene

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