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SKALE Docs

Managing SKALE Chain Wallet

The SKALE Network uses a “self-reimbursing” wallet system to make it easier for SKALE Chain Owners to reimburse certain node-related transactions that are executed on Ethereum. The use of self-recharging wallets is a requirement for testnet and mainnet.

The Wallets contract in SKALE Manager manages this functionality.

Each SKALE Chain owner manages a wallet. This wallet must contain a balance of ETH that’s used to reimburse specific transactions performed by validator supernodes, including certain IMA messages.

Transactions that are reimbursed by the SKALE Chain owner wallet are:

Anyone can fund the SKALE Chain wallet, but only the SKALE Chain owner may withdraw funds from the SKALE Chain wallet after the SKALE Chain deletion process has begun.

IMA Bridge

If using the IMA bridge with Ethereum, the SKALE Chain owner and community must ensure the SKALE Chain owner ETH balance is sufficient to ensure proper bridge messaging and transaction gas reimbursement.

	
sequenceDiagram
  participant IS as IMA Schain
  participant SN as SKALE Node
  participant CP as IMA Community Pool
  participant IM as IMA Mainnet
  participant SMW as SKALE Manager Wallets

  IS ->> CP: User deposits ETH IMA Community Pool
  IS ->> IM: User exits
  SN ->> IM: Random SKALE node posts tx
  CP ->> SN: Reimbursement from user's community pool
  SMW -->> SN: Contingent reimbursement

Each end-user reimburses validator supernodes for IMA messaging with Ethereum. This reimbursement is performed from the end-user’s balance in the Community Pool contract on Ethereum mainnet. In the extraordinary situation where an end-user’s Community Pool balance is insufficient, part or all of the costs will be provided by the SKALE Chain wallet to ensure proper transaction processing. When this happens, the end-user will be locked from further exits until the end-user reimburses their Community Pool ETH balance.

The minimum recommended ETH balance in the SKALE Chain wallet for IMA messaging is (MESSAGES_LENGTH * gasLimit * tx.gasPrice) where global settings define MESSAGES_LENGTH as 10+1 and gasLimit as 1,000,000 gas. For example, if the Ethereum network gas cost is 200 Gwei, the SKALE Chain Wallet balance must contain (11 * 1000000 * 200) = 2.2 ETH. If the network gas cost > 200 Gwei and the SKALE Chain wallet balance is ≤ 2.2 ETH, IMA messages will pause until the gas costs are ≤ 200 Gwei, or the SKALE Chain wallet balance is > 2.2 ETH.

Any community member can recharge the SKALE Chain wallet with additional ETH, or end-users may wait for the Ethereum network gas costs to decrease. Once the SKALE Chain wallet is recharged, stuck messages will resume. If there is a large queue, additional time will be required to clear the queue.