Token Transfers

Blockchain transactions are the fundamental building blocks of blockchain networks.

• They involve the transfer of digital assets or information from one party to another.

• When a transaction is performed and confirmed, the details of the transactions are appended to the blockchain, with a unique transaction hash accompanying the transaction.

• By indexing the blockchain, we can identify all transactions and asset transfers.

This guide aims to help users map Allium’s transfer schema to the transaction data that they typically observe on blockchain explorers, such as Etherscan.

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EVM transfers - Mapping Allium Schemas to EVM-Compatible Blockchains

EVM-compatible chains are blockchain networks compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM).

In this example, we will use a USDT -> USDC transaction performed on the Ethereum network and illustrate how it maps to Allium’s data schema.

select * from crosschain.assets.transfers

where chain = 'ethereum'

    and block_timestamp::date = '2024-05-02'

    and lower(token_type) = 'erc20'

    and transaction_hash = '0xfe0ae8b623268b552f40bbdb17f07ec9bff70d4fb3139eda8580a48ac299e996'

1. In this transaction, the transaction sender (transaction_from_address) interacted with the Exchange Proxy contract (transaction_to_address).

2. The user (0x23b7) then sends 10,679 Tether USD from its address (from_address) -> Uniswap V3 USDC-USDT contract address (to_address).

3. In turn, the Uniswap V3 contract (from_address) sends 10,687.25 USDC from itself to the user 0x23b7 (to_address).

   A user performing a swap from USDT to USDC stablecoin on the Ethereum blockchain. https://etherscan.io/tx/0xfe0ae8b623268b552f40bbdb17f07ec9bff70d4fb3139eda8580a48ac299e996

How does Allium identify these transfers?

For ERC-20 (BEP-20, TRC-20) compatible tokens, transfers will emit a corresponding Transfer event log in their receipts.

We index the entire blockchain and identify and decode these transfers. Receipt event logs are only emitted for successful transfers.

Event log emitted by the Circle USDC token during this transaction.

For Native Tokens, such as Ethereum, Avalanche, BNB token, we identify trace value transfers for successful trace calls.

Gas consumption by the transaction sender (transaction_from_address) is also deducted from the transaction sender.

Native Ethereum (ETH) transferred https://etherscan.io/tx/0x4d8bb55d561350a95b5518e71ea6026f45a385231ad0d01ce112203ff0adca86#internal

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Solana transfers

Token Transfers on Solana work differently from EVM chains. To begin, you need to familiarise yourself with the following account types.

Account Types

1. Native Accounts: Handle native programs like System, Vote, Stake.

2. SPL Accounts: Store tokens other than SOL and NFTs.

3. Program Accounts: Execute actions and run instructions.

Transfer Mechanisms

SOL Transfer:

• From User A to User B: Direct and similar to transactions on other blockchains.

SPL Token/NFT Transfer:

• Compartmentalized Storage: Unlike Ethereum’s single storage for all ERC-20 tokens, Solana uses multiple compartments within a user account, each dedicated to one type of SPL token.
  https://solscan.io/tx/4YWQv62igJbZaUX9ifybtZiK3vqjKim58kspoazp17wJxza4krvrSxFniuqWrojiZ2UJyXMEm1b8YaoenuovX3GM

In this transfer shown, we see that 5hjTw3.. transferred 79.87 USDT to AhhoxZ... The account/address represented here is the wallet account.

Under the hood, when we toggle the “View Token Account” option, the USDT is transferred across the underlying token accounts, which are represented by token_acc_from and token_acc_to

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Summary of edge cases in Solana transfers

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1. Transfer of token account ownership as a means to move tokens

Although less conventional (and perhaps not recommended), it is possible to transfer the ownership of a token account. This is done via the setAuthority method.

✅ Allium’s coverage status: These transfers can be found with the filter transfer_type = 'token_account_transfer'

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2. Return of SOL balances from account closures

When closing a token account, a non-WSOL account is guaranteed to have 0 balance when closing, so only the rent is returned to the destination of the close instruction.

When closing a WSOL account, it is possible to have non-zero balance of WSOL tokens. Upon closing, these WSOL tokens will be returned as SOL tokens to the destination.

✅ Alium’s coverage status: when a token account is closed, both the rent return + remaining WSOL balance is summed and indicated in the amount transferred. Such records can be found with transfer_type='account_closure_sol_balance_transfer'.

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3. Transfers by PDA not holding balances

It is possible for an account to send SOL (i.e. is the from party of a SOL transfer) without actually holding any balance. In this tx, the account B51Nfh3X6Dqu4BzsafwzeknU7n2CraNneLsdAfs3zaSU shows total outgoing transfers of 0.115 SOL, but based on the SOL Balance Change tab, the account starts with 0 SOL balance. In addition, the account did not have rent deposited, and no funding activity prior to the outgoing transfers.

✅ Allium’s coverage status: The transfers themselves are indexed. However, when closing such accounts (as explained in #4), it would then seem as though it has a negative balance to return. In our data, we set amount=0 for the such cases. In the current dataset this applies to 29/1.7b rows.

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4. Invisible SOL transfers

It is possible to move SOL without calling the system transfer and transferChecked method. In this tx, there are no visible transfer instructions for the sale of the NFT (~0.27 SOL), but looking at the SOL Balance Change tab, the buyer and seller of the NFT indeed have their SOL balance changed.

Allium’s coverage status: We currently use pre_balances and post_balances of the raw transaction data to infer amounts transferred, but only in the context of tensorswap sells (specifically the SellNftTokenPool method) to get NFT trades. We do not index such invisible SOL transfers in other contexts.

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5. Collection of fees with TokenExtension program

In the TokenExtension program, in the fee extension, spl tokens can be collected by a fee authority using withdrawWithheldTokensFromAccounts and harvestWithheldTokensToMint. However, these 2 instructions do not generate transfer instructions, and the amount collected is not indicated. More info here and here.

Allium’s coverage status: Transfers of spl tokens as a result of calling fee collection methods withdrawWithheldTokensFromAccounts and harvestWithheldTokensToMint are not indexed yet, we estimate that this results in <0.01% transfers being missing.

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Aptos transfers

Token Transfers on Aptos work differently from EVM chains.

• Aptos adopts a debit/credit based system, where tokens are withdrawn and deposited into accounts.

• Thus, users of Aptos token transfer data need to be aware that transfer data is reconstructed from withdrawal + deposits events recorded on the blockchain.

• Token transfers provide additional info over a plain credit/debit dataset, thus Allium has painstakingly reconstructed a token transfers dataset to enable more use cases such as tracking fund movements across the blockchain(s).

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Details on withdrawal/deposit design

The need to reconstruct transfers stem from the following traits of Aptos, specifically the coinand fungible_assetmodules.

1. There are no transfer events emitted

While there is a transferfunction in the coinand fungible_assetmodules allowing for point-to-point transfers of assets, only withdrawal and deposit events are emitted and *no* transfer events are emitted. This creates a challenge where the parser has to ‘reconstruct’ point-to-point transfers using withdrawal and deposit events.

2. Invisible withdrawals and deposits

While point-to-point transfers have withdrawal and deposit events, there are a large number of coin movements that do not emit these events. Internally, it is due to the code design of having ‘coin-objects’ that are split and merged where needed so the withdraw/deposit function is not always called. Unfortunately, there are no split/merge events emitted as well, presumably to reduce clutter on the events emitted.

Allium uses various sources of raw Aptos data and clues in the transaction to find and recreate these invisible events, termed ‘virtual withdraw/deposits’. This is an extremely tedious task but required to form a complete token transfers dataset.

3. N-withdrawals, M-deposits

Since Aptos asset movements run on a credit/debit system, within a tx one can imagine that a coin A is withdrawn and consolidated from N different sources, and that lumpsum amount of coin A can be distributed into M different destinations. This allows for highly flexible and efficient movement of assets, but does not fit into the point-to-point paradigm of asset movement. Current coverage for such asset movements are as such:

• N=1, M > 1 : parsed into M rows of asset transfer

• N > 1, M = 1 : parsed into N rows of asset transfer

• N > 1, M > 1: not yet

Since transfers are reconstructed from deposits/withdrawals, the team is always working on improving the coverage, ensuring that all deposits are matched with a correct withdrawal. Please reach out to the team for assistance should gaps be discovered.

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Sui transfers

Token Transfers on Sui work differently from EVM chains.

• Similar to Aptos, Sui adopts a debit/credit based system, where tokens are withdrawn and deposited into objects.

• Thus, users of Sui token transfer data need to be aware that transfer data is reconstructed from events, transactions and balance changes recorded on the blockchain.

• Token transfers provide additional info over a plain credit/debit dataset, thus Allium has painstakingly reconstructed a token transfers dataset to enable more use cases such as tracking fund movements across the blockchain(s).

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Details on design

Sui Architecture: there are no transfer events emitted

While there is a TransferObjectfunction in the sui modules allowing for point-to-point transfers of assets, only transactions and balance changes are emitted and *no* transfer events are emitted. This creates a challenge where the parser has to ‘reconstruct’ point-to-point transfers using a mixture of transactions and balance changes.

Since transfers are reconstructed from multiple data sources (events, transactions, and balance changes), our team continuously works to expand and improve coverage through case-by-case analysis. We strive to ensure comprehensive matching of all balance changes. If you discover any gaps in coverage, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our team for support.