Transactions and Finalize Transactions
General Transaction Flow
This article explains how to carry out a transaction that starts from the cold vault. A cold transaction can be initiated from the Transactions panel, provided there are sufficient funds in the required account and currency.
Clicking New Transaction opens a pop-up window for entering the transaction's parameters.
Select Limits status to check the current limits for sending currencies and paying fees.
Select Load Contact to load saved addresses. These can be users' added addresses or system addresses (of the accounts).
Once a contact address is selected, the user needs to enter the following parameters
- Amount: being inputted by the user
- Fees: What you pay to perform the blockchain transaction.
- Description: optional, for following up on the transaction.
After pressing Send, in case of success, a popup window will appear with a "Transaction sent" message. However, the transaction will fail if certain conditions aren’t met. For example, if limits aren’t satisfied, fees are insufficient, or there’s no matching policy.
After a successful transaction, a new line appears in the transaction table, showing all the details. You can double-click the transaction to explore even more information. Some of those fields can be individually expanded.
UTXO Transactions from the Impenetrable Vault
From a procedural standpoint, UTXO transactions (such as BTC) are just like any other:
- Choose the currency.
- Create a transition.
- Select the destination(s).
- Set the fee.
- Send the transaction.
Behind the scenes, though, UTXOs are handled differently than other types of cryptocurrency.
---
config:
layout: dagre
theme: neutral
---
flowchart TD
subgraph Vault["Impenetrable Vault"]
A["System gathers all UTXOs"]
UTXO1["UTXO 1"]
UTXO2["UTXO 2"]
UTXO3["UTXO 3"]
B["Create single transaction spending all UTXOs"]
end
UTXO1 --> A
UTXO2 --> A
UTXO3 --> A
A --> B
B --> Mempool["Mempool - Waiting for confirmation"]
Mempool -- Low Fee --> Stuck["Transaction stuck - All UTXOs locked - Currency unusable until timeout"]
Mempool -- Proper Fee --> C["Transaction confirmed on-chain"]
C --> D1["Destinations: Amount sent"] & D2["Fee paid to miners"] & D3["Remaining balance as change"]
D3 --> Vault
- All UTXOs Are Spent: When sending from the Impenetrable Vault, the system automatically uses all available UTXOs for that currency in a single transaction.
- Multiple Destinations Supported: You can send funds to one or more destinations in a single transaction.
- Change Returned to Vault: Any leftover balance (after destinations and fees) is returned as a single UTXO to the Impenetrable Vault.
- One Transaction at a Time: Since all UTXOs are spent, you cannot initiate another transaction until the first one is confirmed on-chain.
This process avoids UTXO fragmentation and ensures clear, manageable balances in the vault.
Setting UTXO Fees
Choosing an appropriate fee is critical to ensuring smooth system operation when sending UTXO transactions from the Impenetrable Vault. You’ll need to decide on a fee per vbyte that makes sense based on current network fees. Because fee levels change over time depending on network activity, you should check a live Bitcoin fee estimator before setting this value.
The proxy computer queries the blockchain and suggests a fee in real-time when you are building a transaction.
If you want to double-check the suggested fee, we recommend the following third-party sources:
If the fee is too low, the transaction may get stuck in the mempool, leaving all UTXOs locked until the transaction either confirms or expires. Since the system always spends all UTXOs in each transaction, no additional UTXO transactions can be sent until the pending transaction clears. This can freeze operations for that currency.
To avoid this:
- Always check current market fee rates before sending.
- Consider setting fees at or above the current market rate to incentivize miners to confirm the transaction quickly.
- Faster confirmation means consolidated assets are returned to the vault as a single UTXO sooner, ready for the next transaction.
In short, appropriate fee selection is essential to keep your UTXO transactions flowing smoothly and prevent system lockups.