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Transactions in Casper v2.0​

In this article we will examine user transactions (previously called deploys). More specifically we will review the expanded set of transaction types and how they are processed by the node's execution engine.

Transaction Types​

Transactions encapsulate user intents. For example, if Alice intends to transfer CSPR to Bob, she uses software (e.g. a wallet) to construct and sign a transaction that is subsequently dispatched to a trusted node for processing by the network.

Transactions may be either 'native' or 'custom':

  • Native transactions are those that interact with system contracts such as mint and/or auction. They do not require any WASM payload to be constructed, are normally compact in size, and are processed directly on the metal, i.e. host-side.

  • Custom transactions are those that interact with the system via either on-chain smart contracts or in-line session logic. All such interactions are based upon user-defined WASM binaries, and are executed within one of the node's supported virtual machines.

In Casper 1.0 there was a single native transaction type (Transfer), and a set of custom transaction types (ContractByHash, ContractByHashVersioned, ContractByName, ContractByNameVersioned, ContractBytes). In Casper 2.0 the set of both native & custome transaction types have been expanded.

Casper 2.0 Native Transaction Types:

  • System.Mint.Transfer
  • System.Mint.Burn
  • System.Auction.Bid.Submit
  • System.Auction.Bid.Withdraw
  • System.Auction.Delegation.Redelegate
  • System.Auction.Delegation.Submit
  • System.Auction.Delegation.Withdraw
  • System.Auction.Staking.Submit
  • System.Auction.Staking.Withdraw

Not all work is identical, e.g. a base token (cspr) transfer differs from a smart contract execution.

Casper 1.0 supported a set of 6 transaction types, in Casper 2.0 the set is both refined and expanded.

The Transaction stat type has a number of changes from its predecessor, the Deploy. For a detailed discussion of these differences you can see the casper documentation of this discussion of the JSON schema.