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Accounts, Addresses, and Fees

TL;DR;​

  • Types of Accounts: IOTA Smart Contracts feature Layer 1 and Layer 2 accounts, each serving different roles and facilitating asset transfers across the blockchain.
  • Gas: Running requests in IOTA Smart Contracts incurs a 'gas' cost, with users setting a GasBudget to manage their spending.
  • Gas Budget: The GasBudget allows users to define a spending limit for their requests, aligning with the chain’s fee policy.
  • Allowance: The Allowance system controls the fund usage in smart contracts, ensuring only authorized transactions are processed.

Types of Accounts​

In the world of IOTA Smart Contracts, accounts play a pivotal role. These accounts exist on two levels: Layer 1 (L1) and Layer 2 (L2). L1 addresses control assets on the IOTA ledger, and each smart contract chain has a unique L1 address, acting as a custodian for L1 assets. On the L2 ledger, accounts can be owned by various entities, each identified by a unique Agent ID. An L2 account can belong to a standard L1 address, a specific smart contract, or even an Ethereum address, enabling trustless asset transfers between different entities on the same or different chains.

Gas​

In the IOTA Smart Contract ecosystem, running a request in a chain incurs a cost known as 'gas'. Each operation within a smart contract, like arithmetic calculations or data storage, has an associated gas cost.

Gas Budget​

Users define a GasBudget for their requests, which represents the maximum cost they are willing to pay. This fee is charged based on the chain’s fee policy and is deducted from the user's on-chain account.

Allowance​

Additionally, the concept of Allowance is crucial as it defines the funds a smart contract can use on behalf of the caller. This mechanism ensures that only an authorized amount of funds can be utilized in transactions.

Dive Deeper

You can gain a deeper understanding of accounts, gas and allowance in the IOTA Smart Contracts documentation.