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162 changes: 162 additions & 0 deletions ecosystem/incentivized-relays-mvp.md
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# [Incentivized Relays MVP]: Design Doc

| | |
| ------------------ | -------------------------------------------------- |
| Author | _Hamdi Allam_ |
| Created at | _2025-04-21_ |
| Initial Reviewers | _Reviewer Name 1, Reviewer Name 2_ |
| Need Approval From | _Reviewer Name_ |
| Status | _Draft / In Review / Implementing Actions / Final_ |

## Purpose

<!-- This section is also sometimes called “Motivations” or “Goals”. -->

<!-- It is fine to remove this section from the final document,
but understanding the purpose of the doc when writing is very helpful. -->

We want to preserve a single transaction experience in the Superchain event event when a transaction spawns asynchronous cross chain invocations.
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Suggested change
We want to preserve a single transaction experience in the Superchain event event when a transaction spawns asynchronous cross chain invocations.
We want to preserve a single transaction experience in the Superchain even when a transaction spawns asynchronous cross chain invocations.


## Summary

<!-- Most (if not all) documents should have a summary.
While the length will likely be proportional to the length of the full document,
the summary should be as succinct as possible. -->

With an incentivation framework, we can ensure permissionless delivery of cross domain messages by any relayer. Very similar to solvers fulfilling cross chain [intents](https://www.erc7683.org/) that are retroactively paid by the settlement system.

This settlement system is built outside external to the core protocol contracts, with this iteration serving as a functional MVP to start from. Any cut scope significantly simplifies implementation and can be re-added as improvements in further versions.
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Suggested change
This settlement system is built outside external to the core protocol contracts, with this iteration serving as a functional MVP to start from. Any cut scope significantly simplifies implementation and can be re-added as improvements in further versions.
This settlement system is built outside of the core protocol contracts, with this iteration serving as a functional MVP to start from. Any cut scope significantly simplifies implementation and can be re-added as improvements in further versions.


## Problem Statement + Context

<!-- Describe the specific problem that the document is seeking to address as well
as information needed to understand the problem and design space.
If more information is needed on the costs of the problem,
this is a good place to that information. -->

In order to pay relayers for delivering cross chain messages, relayers need to reimburse themselves for gas used during delivery. Since cross domain messages can span N hops, i.e A->B->C, this settlement system must ensure all costs are paid by the same fee payer. Thus all callbacks and transitive messages are implicitly incentivized by the originating transaction.

## Proposed Solution

<!-- A high level overview of the proposed solution.
When there are multiple alternatives there should be an explanation
of why one solution was picked over other solutions.
As a rule of thumb, including code snippets (except for defining an external API)
is likely too low level. -->

An initial invariant that works well in establishing the fee payer is the `tx.origin` of the originating transaction. This is the same invariant that holds for 4337 and 7702 sponsored transaction.

The changes proposed in [#266](https://github.com/ethereum-optimism/design-docs/pull/266), provides the foundation creating the first iteration of this settlement system -- without enshrinment in the core protocol contracts. The `RelayedMessageGasReceipt` includes contextual information on the gas consumed, and the propogated (`tx.origin`, `rootMessageHash`,`callDepth`) upon nested cross domain messages that can be used to appropriately charge `tx.origin`.

This settlement system is a permissionless CREATE2 deployment, `L2ToL2CrossDomainGasTank`, where tx senders can hold an ETH deposit, used to asynchronously pay relayers for delivered messages.

```solidity
contract L2ToL2CrossDomainGasTank {
uint256 constant MAX_DEPOSIT = 0.01 ether;

mapping(address => uint256) public balanceOf;
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What are your thoughts on having a second mapping keying balance by root message hash?

mapping(address => uint256) public txOriginBalanceOf;
mapping(bytes32 => uint256) public messageBalanceOf;

This could still enforce a MAX_DEPOSIT to mitigate risk of a large amount of stuck funds for a given account. The deposit flow would looks like this:

 function deposit(bytes32 rootMsgHash) nonReentrant external payable {
        uint256 amount = msg.value;
        require(amount > 0);
        uint256 newTxOriginBalance = txOriginBalanceOf[msg.sender] + amount;
        require(newTxOriginBalance < MAX_DEPOSIT);
        txOriginBalanceOf[msg.sender] = newTxOriginBalance;
        uint256 newRootMessageBalanceOf = messageBalanceOf[rootMsgHash] + amount
        newRootMessageBalanceOf[rootMsgHash] = newRootMessageBalanceOf
    }

Then in claim you would have to deduct cost from both balance mappings:

txOriginBalanceOf[txOrigin] -= cost;
messageBalanceOf[rootMsgHash] -= cost;

The main benefit of messageBalanceOf is that it removes complexity from the relayer around determining whether L2ToL2CrossDomainGasTank contains enough funds for the gas required to relay a message because relayer can check the balance per message hash instead of having to check for other pending messages that might be associated with that tx.origin. Another benefit, is down the line when we support withdrawals, we could add timeouts per message hash on withdrawals, which would guarantee that the balance for the message hash would exist up until a given block timestamp.

However, a potential downside I see of the messageBalanceOf approach is that it would require a new deposit for every new root message hash. And a potential risk of this approach is that someone could assign a balance of MAX_DEPOSIT to a single message hash (or across multiple message hahes), that ends up not being relayable, and then that account ends up "stuck" and cannot fund any additional messages because the account balance cannot exceed MAX_DEPOSIT. However, this risk becomes mitigated if we assume L2ToL2CrossDomainGasTank is not "production-ready" until there is withdrawal support.

wdyt?

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@hamdiallam hamdiallam Apr 23, 2025

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yea this is a great point! I was actually thinking of having support for this not in replacement but for 3rdparty integrator that wants a different fee payer thantx.origin.

The reason it can't replace is that this requires native integration with someone using the L2ToL2CrossDomainMessenger. You'd have to wrap every sendMessage call with a call to deposit. Instead of a replacement, this would be an additive API.

One easy usecase. Lets say Layerzero wants to integrate this feature. Someone sends a message from Solana -> OPM that then spawns a bunch of operations. You dont want the LZ relayer from Sol->OPM to be the fee payer. However, the LZ DVN that integrates the L2ToL2CDM can use this api to specifically just push whatever gas was provided from the original tx as the deposit for the given root msg hash. Then everything just works. And if the provided gas wasn't enough, the person can top up the given root msg hash with more funds

Does this make sense?

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100% agree that this first version should actually include this, i'll add it today

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The reason it can't replace is that this requires native integration with someone using the L2ToL2CrossDomainMessenger. You'd have to wrap every sendMessage call with a call to deposit. Instead of a replacement, this would be an additive API.

when you say additive API, are you saying that the gas tank will support balance tracking and claiming by tx.origin and by msg hash?

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by default claiming by tx.origin unless the rootMsgHash has an explicit balance set.

If the rootMsgHash has a balance set, i think it should not claim by tx.origin. Is there a scenario where you think it should fallback to tx.origin after depleting the funds associated with the msg hash?

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If the rootMsgHash has a balance set, i think it should not claim by tx.origin. Is there a scenario where you think it should fallback to tx.origin after depleting the funds associated with the msg hash?

Hmm, if we are going to support balances by tx.origin and by msgHash then we should fallback to tx.origin. Otherwise, a bad actor could potentially try to make it more difficult for a msg to relay by setting a very small balance to any msg hash they want to prevent from being relayed, and then the user would have to intervene and increase the balance on that msg hash in order to get it to relay.

The other option here is to just simplify things and only support msgHash balances. Even though it will always require an extra deposit, can't that be simplified by something like 7702?


function deposit() nonReentrant external payable {
uint256 amount = msg.value;
require(amount > 0);

uint256 newBalance = balanceOf[msg.sender] + amount;
require(newBalance < MAX_DEPOSIT);

balanceOf[msg.sender] = newBalance;
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I think it would be good to emit a deposit event

}
}
```

We cap the deposits in order to cut scope in supporting withdrawals. This makes our first interation super simple since as withdrawal support introduces a race between deposited funds and a relayer compensating themselves for message delivery. With a relatively low max deposit, we eliminate the risk of a large amount of stuck funds for a given account whilst the amount being sufficient enough to cover hundreds of sub-cent transactions.
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Are we planning to launch this to mainnet without withdrawal support? My understanding was that prior to launching to mainnet withdrawal support would be a requirement.

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yes I think that's right Harry!

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I think all the way till mainnet is an open question. This lets us get to a first version and maybe we have time to iterate on a version with withdrawal support for mainnet


Relayers that delivered messages can compensate themselves by pushing through the `RelayedMessageGasReceipt` event, validated with Superchain interop. A tx sender with no deposit makes this feature a no-op as no relayer will auto-deliver the message. The user but either relay messages themselves or can rely on a 3rdparty provider.

```solidity
contract L2ToL2CrossDomainGasTank {

mapping(bytes32 => bool) claimed;

function claim(Identifier calldata id, bytes calldata payload) nonReentrant external {
require(id.origin == address(messenger));
ICrossL2Inbox(Predeploys.CROSS_L2_INBOX).validateMessage(id, keccak256(payload));

// parse the receipt
require(payload[:32] == RelayedMessageGasReceipt.selector);
(bytes32 rootMsgHash, address txOrigin, uint256 callDepth, address relayer, uint256 relayCost) = _decode(payload);

// ensure message was sent from this chain
require(messenger.sentMessages[rootMsgHash]);

// ensure unclaimed, and mark the claim
bytes32 claimId = keccak256(abi.encode(rootMsgHash, callDepth));
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@tremarkley tremarkley Apr 23, 2025

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isn't it possible to have two messages with the same rootMsgHash and callDepth? For example, if a message goes from A -> B and then from B two more messages are kicked off (B -> C and B -> D), then I believe C and D will both have the same rootMsgHash and callDepth. why not just use msgHash here?

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yep i really should just use the msg hash here. Idk why i'm creating a new unique identifier when one exists

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What if we use full msgHash + chainId + receipt blockNumber; this guarantees uniqueness even for identical sub-calls (A→B then A→C), right? Just thinking of ways to further protect against double spend.

require(!claimed[claimId]);

claimed[claimId] = true

// compute total cost
uint256 claimCost = CLAIM_OVERHEAD * block.basefee;
uint256 cost = relayCost + claimCost;
require(balanceOf[txOrigin] >= cost);
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even if there is not enough balance to cover should we still let the relayer claim? I could see a scenario where the relayer has already relayed a message and even though the gas tank doesnt have the full balance to cover the cost, the relayer still wants to claim the remaining funds in the gas tank. wdyt?

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wouldn't the tx not go through if there's not enough balance prior? I guess its possible that the simulated gas price and the actual are different, is that the scenario you had in mind?

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Gave this some more thought - If the relayer spent gas it should be able to drain whatever funds are present if the cost > what's in the vault I feel. Should we add PartialClaim ability? do a min(cost, balance) and emit a PartialClaim event for accounting maybe? curious what you think! this should really only be an edge case since we estimate that there is enough to fund the relay.


// compensate the relayer
balanceOf[txOrigin] -= cost;
new SafeSend{ value: cost }(payable(relayer));
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@tremarkley tremarkley Apr 22, 2025

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should we emit an event after this? might be helpful for tracking which messages have been claimed.

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yea agreed, an event here is good

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another thing I thought of, wouldnt someone be able to claim the same gas receipt multiple times with this? do we need a mapping of claimed msgs to prevent this?

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lmfao yes good call 🤣

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updated with the claim id

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I think there is another scenario we will want to guard against for 3rd party relayers:

  1. user has an empty gas tank and sends a message through l2tol2cdm
  2. a 3rd party relayer relays this message and charges them a fee for this relay through their own fee mechanism
  3. at block n+1 after the relay, the user adds funds to their gas tank
  4. 3rd party relayer claims funds from the user's gas tank using a previous message that they relayed, which results in the user being charged twice for the same message.

should we have a permissioned set of relayers that can claim from the gas tank in order to prevent this?

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@tremarkley interesting! curious how we could account for this. permissioned set of relayers doesn't feel like the right approach. or at least its not a long-term solution.

}
}
```

A claim is uniquely identified by the `(rootMsgHash, callDepth)` tuple.

As relayers deliver messages, they can claim the cost against the original tx sender deposit with the gas tank. This design introduces some off-chain complexity for the relayer.

1. The relayer must simulate the call and ensure the emitted tx origin has a deposit that will cover the cost on the originating chain.
2. The relayer should also track the pending claimable `RelayedMessageGasReceipt` of the `rootMsgHash` callstack to maximize the likelihood that the held deposit is sufficient.
3. The relayer should claim the receipt within a reasonable time frame to ensure they are compensated. An unrelated relayer not checking (2) might claim newer transitive message that depletes the funds.
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should we add blockTimestamp to RelayedMessageGasReceipt and let the gas tank owner set maxReceiptAge?


Integrating the `callDepth` is left out of scope in this first iteration to keep things simple. Later iterations may incorporate this to allow for a fee payer to set or have a global constant `max_call_depth` to cap how much a single call stack can claim against a deposit.

### Resource Usage

<!-- What is the resource usage of the proposed solution?
Does it consume a large amount of computational resources or time? -->

As a CREATE2 deployment, this settlement framework does not affect the core protocol contracts. All contract operations are on fixed-sized fields bounding the gas consumption of this contract.

### Single Point of Failure and Multi Client Considerations

<!-- Details on how this change will impact multiple clients. Do we need to plan for changes to both op-geth and op-reth? -->

No external contract calls are made during the deposit and claim pathways, with the `nonReentrant` modifier also applied to protect against re-entrancy attacks as ETH is transferred between the gas tank and the caller.

## Failure Mode Analysis

<!-- Link to the failure mode analysis document, created from the fma-template.md file. -->

_pending_. Important to note that holding no deposit is makes this feature a no-op. Users leveraging 3rdparty relayers or different infrastructure can continue to do so without affect. The failure mode here is simply an unused gas tank. The `RelayedMessageGasReceipt` emmitted by the messenger can be ignored or consumed by a different party for their own purposes.

## Impact on Developer Experience

<!-- Does this proposed design change the way application developers interact with the protocol?
Will any Superchain developer tools (like Supersim, templates, etc.) break as a result of this change? -->

When sending a transaction that involves cross chain interactions, the frontend should simulate these interactions and ensure the gas tank has appropriate funds to pay. With `multicall`, a single transaction can bundle together the funding operation with the transaction if neededed.

The infrastructure required for make cross chain tx simulation as simple as possible must also be taken into consideration. Since a cross chain tx requires a valid `CrossL2Inbox.Identifier`, there's already added complexity here in simulating side effects where dependencies have not yet been executed. However, frontends can liberally make deposits without full simulation as the settlement system only charges what was used.

## Alternatives Considered

<!-- List out a short summary of each possible solution that was considered.
Comparing the effort of each solution -->

1. Rely on 3rdparty Bridge/Relay providers. See the problem statement in [#266](https://github.com/ethereum-optimism/design-docs/pull/266).
2. Offchain attribution. Schemes can be derived with web2-esque approaches such as API keys. With a special tx-submission endpoint, being able to tag cross chain messages with off-chain accounts to thus charge for gas used. This might a good fallback mechanism to have in place.

## Risks & Uncertainties

<!-- An overview of what could go wrong.
Also any open questions that need more work to resolve. -->

1. This incentive framework is insufficient and unused. This is not a problem as this settlement framework is not enshrined in the protocol and is a simple CREATE2 deployment. Entirely new frameworks can be derived to replace this, leaving this unused.

2. Also important to note that holding no deposit is makes this feature a no-op. Users leveraging 3rdparty relayers or different infrastructure can continue to do so without affect.