GLOSSARY · TERM

What is Child-Pays-for-Parent (CPFP)?

A fee-bumping technique where a new transaction (the child) spends an output of a stuck one (the parent) with a high fee, making the pair profitable to mine together. It is how the receiver can accelerate a payment.

UPDATED 2026-08-09TERM CHILD-PAYS-FOR-PARENT (CPFP)

Miners evaluate ancestor packages: to include the profitable child they must also include its parent, so the child's generous fee effectively subsidizes both. CPFP is the tool for the side that received a stuck payment — no cooperation from the sender needed.

Together with RBF (the sender's tool), CPFP is why a stuck bitcoin transaction costs time, never money. Timing the fee market well means rarely needing either.