Frequently Asked Questions
This page contains answers to frequently asked questions about connecting an application to MultiversX, be it an exchange, wallet, dApp, Web3 indexer or data provider.
General information
What is the native token of MultiversX?
EGLD on Mainnet, XeGLD on Devnet and Testnet. The atomic unit of the native token (think of wei for Ethereum) is not named.
1 EGLD = 10^18 atomic units = 1000000000000000000 atomic units
See constants.
What kind of consensus does MultiversX use?
See more at secure proof of stake.
What is the block time (round duration)?
The block time (round duration) is 6 seconds. Also see the welcome page.
Does MultiversX employ sharding?
Currently, the MultiversX network has 3 regular shards, plus a special one, called the metachain - this arrangement holds not only on mainnet, but also on devnet and testnet.
Transactions between accounts assigned to the same shard are called intra-shard transactions. Transactions between accounts located in distinct shards are called cross-shard transactions.
More details about the sharded architecture of MultiversX can be found here. Integrators may choose to have a unified view of the network, leveraging the hyperblock abstraction.
Wallet
What signature scheme does MultiversX use?
For transactions, ed25519 is used.
What BIP-0044 coin type is being used?
CoinType is 508, according to: SLIP-0044.
What is the derivation path for wallets?
The derivation path is m/44'/508'/0'/0'/{address_index}'. That is, the account index stays fixed at 0, while the address index is allowed to vary.
Transactions
What is the schema of a transaction?
See transactions.
How to determine the status of a transaction?
What can be said about transactions finality?
A transaction is final when the block or blocks (for cross-shard transactions) that notarize it have been declared final. Generally speaking, a transaction can be considered final as soon as it presents the hyperblock coordinates (hyperblock nonce and hyperblock hash) when queried from the network, and these coordinates are under (older than) the latest final hyperblock.
For more details, see integration guide and querying the blockchain.
Accounts
How does an address look like?
An account is identified by an address, which is the bech32-encoded public key of the account.
For the bech32 encoding, the human-readable part (HRP) is erd.
Types of accounts
Both regular user accounts and smart contract accounts can hold tokens: EGLD and ESDT tokens (fungible, semi-fungible or non-fungible ones).
Regular user accounts can sign transactions using their private key. Smart contracts cannot create actual transactions, as they cannot sign them. Instead, they interact with other accounts by crafting so-called unsigned transactions (or smart contract results).
How are accounts created?
Regular user accounts get created on the blockchain when the corresponding address receives tokens for the first time. On the other hand, (user-defined) smart contract accounts are created when a smart contract is deployed. The address of a smart contract is a function of [address of the deployer, nonce of deployment transaction]. For a smart contract account, there is no (known) private key.
How to distinguish between a normal account and a smart contract?
Examples of addresses:
- regular user account:
erd1qyu5wthldzr8wx5c9ucg8kjagg0jfs53s8nr3zpz3hypefsdd8ssycr6th - smart contract:
erd1qqqqqqqqqqqqqpgqq66xk9gfr4esuhem3jru86wg5hvp33a62jps2fy57p
If the address (decoded as bytes) has a prefix of 8 bytes of 0x00, then it refers to a smart contract.
Smart Contracts
There are two types of smart contracts on MultiversX: system smart contracts and user-defined smart contracts. System smart contracts are coded into the Protocol itself, while user-defined smart contracts are developed and deployed by users. The latter are written primarily in Rust. The Virtual Machine uses the WASM format, by leveraging the Wasmer engine.
How to detect contract deployment events?
Look for events of type SCDeploy.
Is it possible to upgrade a smart contract?
Yes, if the upgradeable flag is set in the contract's metadata. Also see upgrading smart contracts.