PIP-37: Batch Transaction
Transitions with multiple Payloads
| Authors | Pactus Development Team [info@pactus.org] |
|---|---|
| Discussion | View Discussion PIP-37 |
| Category | Core |
| Created | 2025-01-13 |
Table of Contents
Abstract
This proposal introduces support for batch transactions, enabling a single transaction to contain multiple payloads that are executed together.
Motivation
Batch transactions enable users to include multiple payloads in a single transaction, executed simultaneously. This functionality is particularly advantageous for merchants receiving payments across multiple accounts or node operators bonding multiple validators in a single operation.
Specifications
To designate that a transaction contains multiple payloads, a new flag, 0x2, is introduced.
If this flag is not set, the transaction format remains unchanged.
When the flag is set, the transaction format is updated as follows:
| Field | Size |
|---|---|
| Flags | 1 byte |
| Version | 1 byte |
| Lock Time | 4 bytes |
| Fee | Variant |
| Memo | Variant |
| Number of Payloads | 1 byte |
| Payload.Type | 1 byte |
| Payload.Data | Variant |
| Signature | Variant |
| Public Key | Variant |
To validate the transaction signature, all payloads must share the same signer address.
This format ensures that multiple payloads can be encoded and decoded without altering the existing structure for single-payload transactions. Transactions using the old format remain valid, while the new format can be extended to support batch transactions.
Backwards Compatibility
Batch transactions are not backward-compatible. The old format does not include the “Number of Payloads” field. This feature should only be enabled once the majority of the network supports it.
Security Considerations
There are several security considerations for batch transactions:
- Payload Limit: The number of payloads is capped at 32 to prevent excessively large transactions that could strain network resources.
- Atomic Execution: Transactions with multiple payloads must be atomic. If one payload fails, none of the others should execute.
Copyright
Copyright and related rights waived via CC0.