L2 Transfer Tools FAQ
The Graph has made it 26x cheaper for contributors to participate in the network by deploying the protocol to Arbitrum One. The L2 Transfer Tools were created by core devs to make it easy to move to L2.
For each network participant, a set of L2 Transfer Tools are available to make the experience seamless when moving to L2, avoiding thawing periods or having to manually withdraw and bridge GRT.
These tools will require you to follow a specific set of steps depending on what your role is within The Graph and what you are transferring to L2.
If you are using an EOA wallet you can use the same address. If your Ethereum mainnet wallet is a contract (e.g. a multisig) then you must specify an Arbitrum wallet address where your transfer will be sent. Please check the address carefully as any transfers to an incorrect address can result in permanent loss. If you'd like to use a multisig on L2, make sure you deploy a multisig contract on Arbitrum One.
Wallets on EVM blockchains like Ethereum and Arbitrum are a pair of keys (public and private), that you create without any need to interact with the blockchain. So any wallet that was created for Ethereum will also work on Arbitrum without having to do anything else.
The exception is with smart contract wallets like multisigs: these are smart contracts that are deployed separately on each chain, and get their address when they are deployed. If a multisig was deployed to Ethereum, it won't exist with the same address on Arbitrum. A new multisig must be created first on Arbitrum, and may get a different address.
The L2 Transfer Tools use Arbitrum’s native mechanism to send messages from L1 to L2. This mechanism is called a “retryable ticket” and is used by all native token bridges, including the Arbitrum GRT bridge. You can read more about retryable tickets in the Arbitrum docs.
When you transfer your assets (subgraph, stake, delegation or curation) to L2, a message is sent through the Arbitrum GRT bridge which creates a retryable ticket in L2. The transfer tool includes some ETH value in the transaction, that is used to 1) pay to create the ticket and 2) pay for the gas to execute the ticket in L2. However, because gas prices might vary in the time until the ticket is ready to execute in L2, it is possible that this auto-execution attempt fails. When that happens, the Arbitrum bridge will keep the retryable ticket alive for up to 7 days, and anyone can retry “redeeming” the ticket (which requires a wallet with some ETH bridged to Arbitrum).
This is what we call the “Confirm” step in all the transfer tools - it will run automatically in most cases, as the auto-execution is most often successful, but it is important that you check back to make sure it went through. If it doesn’t succeed and there are no successful retries in 7 days, the Arbitrum bridge will discard the ticket, and your assets (subgraph, stake, delegation or curation) will be lost and can’t be recovered. The Graph core devs have a monitoring system in place to detect these situations and try to redeem the tickets before it’s too late, but it is ultimately your responsibility to ensure your transfer is completed in time. If you’re having trouble confirming your transaction, please reach out using this form and core devs will be there help you.
I started my delegation/stake/curation transfer and I'm not sure if it made it through to L2, how can I confirm that it was transferred correctly?
If you don't see a banner on your profile asking you to finish the transfer, then it's likely the transaction made it safely to L2 and no more action is needed. If in doubt, you can check if Explorer shows your delegation, stake or curation on Arbitrum One.
If you have the L1 transaction hash (which you can find by looking at the recent transactions in your wallet), you can also confirm if the "retryable ticket" that carried the message to L2 was redeemed here: https://retryable-dashboard.arbitrum.io/ - if the auto-redeem failed, you can also connect your wallet there and redeem it. Rest assured that core devs are also monitoring for messages that get stuck, and will attempt to redeem them before they expire.
To transfer your subgraph, you will need to complete the following steps:
Initiate the transfer on Ethereum mainnet
Wait 20 minutes for confirmation
Confirm subgraph transfer on Arbitrum*
Finish publishing subgraph on Arbitrum
Update Query URL (recommended)
*Note that you must confirm the transfer within 7 days otherwise your subgraph may be lost. In most cases, this step will run automatically, but a manual confirmation may be needed if there is a gas price spike on Arbitrum. If there are any issues during this process, there will be resources to help: contact support at [email protected] or on Discord.
You can initiate your transfer from the Subgraph Studio, Explorer, or any subgraph details page. Click the "Transfer Subgraph" button in the subgraph details page to start the transfer.
The transfer time takes approximately 20 minutes. The Arbitrum bridge is working in the background to complete the bridge transfer automatically. In some cases, gas costs may spike and you will need to confirm the transaction again.
Your subgraph will only be discoverable on the network it is published to. For example, if your subgraph is on Arbitrum One, then you can only find it in Explorer on Arbitrum One and will not be able to find it on Ethereum. Please ensure that you have Arbitrum One selected in the network switcher at the top of the page to ensure you are on the correct network. After the transfer, the L1 subgraph will appear as deprecated.
To take advantage of the subgraph transfer tool, your subgraph must be already published to Ethereum mainnet and must have some curation signal owned by the wallet that owns the subgraph. If your subgraph is not published, it is recommended you simply publish directly on Arbitrum One - the associated gas fees will be considerably lower. If you want to transfer a published subgraph but the owner account hasn't curated any signal on it, you can signal a small amount (e.g. 1 GRT) from that account; make sure to choose "auto-migrating" signal.
After transferring your subgraph to Arbitrum, the Ethereum mainnet version will be deprecated. We recommend you update your query URL within 48 hours. However, there is a grace period in place that keeps your mainnet URL functioning so that any third-party dapp support can be updated.
After the 20 minute transfer window, you will need to confirm the transfer with a transaction in the UI to finish the transfer, but the transfer tool will guide you through this. Your L1 endpoint will continue to be supported during the transfer window and a grace period after. It is encouraged that you update your endpoint when convenient for you.
It is unlikely, but possible to experience a brief downtime depending on which Indexers are supporting the subgraph on L1 and whether they keep indexing it until the subgraph is fully supported on L2.
Yes. Select Arbitrum One as your published network when publishing in Subgraph Studio. In the Studio, the latest endpoint will be available which points to the latest updated version of the subgraph.
If you've chosen auto-migrating signal, 100% of your own curation will move with your subgraph to Arbitrum One. All of the subgraph's curation signal will be converted to GRT at the time of the transfer, and the GRT corresponding to your curation signal will be used to mint signal on the L2 subgraph.
Other Curators can choose whether to withdraw their fraction of GRT, or also transfer it to L2 to mint signal on the same subgraph.
Once transferred, your Ethereum mainnet version of this subgraph will be deprecated. If you would like to move back to mainnet, you will need to redeploy and publish back to mainnet. However, transferring back to Ethereum mainnet is strongly discouraged as indexing rewards will eventually be distributed entirely on Arbitrum One.
Gas fees on Arbitrum One are paid using bridged ETH (i.e. ETH that has been bridged to Arbitrum One). However, the gas fees are significantly lower when compared to Ethereum mainnet.
To transfer your delegation, you will need to complete the following steps:
- Initiate delegation transfer on Ethereum mainnet
- Wait 20 minutes for confirmation
- Confirm delegation transfer on Arbitrum
****You must confirm the transaction to complete the delegation transfer on Arbitrum. This step must be completed within 7 days or the delegation could be lost. In most cases, this step will run automatically, but a manual confirmation may be needed if there is a gas price spike on Arbitrum. If there are any issues during this process, there will be resources to help: contact support at [email protected] or on Discord.
If the Indexer to whom you're delegating is still operating on L1, when you transfer to Arbitrum you will forfeit any delegation rewards from open allocations on Ethereum mainnet. This means that you will lose the rewards from, at most, the last 28-day period. If you time the transfer right after the Indexer has closed allocations you can make sure this is the least amount possible. If you have a communication channel with your Indexer(s), consider discussing with them to find the best time to do your transfer.
The L2 transfer tool will only be enabled if the Indexer you have delegated to has transferred their own stake to Arbitrum.
If you wish to delegate to another Indexer, you can transfer to the same Indexer on Arbitrum, then undelegate and wait for the thawing period. After this, you can select another active Indexer to delegate to.
The L2 transfer tool will automatically detect the Indexer you previously delegated to.
Will I be able to mix and match or 'spread' my delegation across new or several Indexers instead of the prior Indexer?
The L2 transfer tool will always move your delegation to the same Indexer you delegated to previously. Once you have moved to L2, you can undelegate, wait for the thawing period, and decide if you'd like to split up your delegation.
Am I subject to the cooldown period or can I withdraw immediately after using the L2 delegation transfer tool?
The transfer tool allows you to immediately move to L2. If you would like to undelegate you will have to wait for the thawing period. However, if an Indexer has transferred all of their stake to L2, you can withdraw on Ethereum mainnet immediately.
It is anticipated that all network participation will move to Arbitrum One in the future.
A 20-minute confirmation is required for delegation transfer. Please note that after the 20-minute period, you must come back and complete step 3 of the transfer process within 7 days. If you fail to do this, then your delegation may be lost. Note that in most cases the transfer tool will complete this step for you automatically. In case of a failed auto-attempt, you will need to complete it manually. If any issues arise during this process, don't worry, we'll be here to help: contact us at [email protected] or on Discord.
Yes! The process is a bit different because vesting contracts can't forward the ETH needed to pay for the L2 gas, so you need to deposit it beforehand. If your vesting contract is not fully vested, you will also have to first initialize a counterpart vesting contract on L2 and will only be able to transfer the delegation to this L2 vesting contract. The UI on Explorer can guide you through this process when you've connected to Explorer using the vesting lock wallet.
No, the vesting contract that is created on Arbitrum will not allow releasing any GRT until the end of the vesting timeline, i.e. until your contract is fully vested. This is to prevent double spending, as otherwise it would be possible to release the same amounts on both layers.
If you'd like to release GRT from the vesting contract, you can transfer them back to the L1 vesting contract using Explorer: in your Arbitrum One profile, you will see a banner saying you can transfer GRT back to the mainnet vesting contract. This requires a transaction on Arbitrum One, waiting 7 days, and a final transaction on mainnet, as it uses the same native bridging mechanism from the GRT bridge.
No. Received tokens on L2 are delegated to the specified Indexer on behalf of the specified Delegator without charging a delegation tax.
Yes! The only rewards that can't be transferred are the ones for open allocations, as those won't exist until the Indexer closes the allocations (usually every 28 days). If you've been delegating for a while, this is likely only a small fraction of rewards.
At the smart contract level, unrealized rewards are already part of your delegation balance, so they will be transferred when you transfer your delegation to L2.
Moving delegation to L2 is not mandatory, but indexing rewards are increasing on L2 following the timeline described in GIP-0052. Eventually, if the Council keeps approving the increases, all rewards will be distributed in L2 and there will be no indexing rewards for Indexers and Delegators on L1.
If I am delegating to an Indexer that has already transferred stake to L2, do I stop receiving rewards on L1?
Many Indexers are transferring stake gradually so Indexers on L1 will still be earning rewards and fees on L1, which are then shared with Delegators. Once an Indexer has transferred all of their stake, then they will stop operating on L1, so Delegators will not receive any more rewards unless they transfer to L2.
Eventually, if the Council keeps approving the indexing rewards increases in L2, all rewards will be distributed on L2 and there will be no indexing rewards for Indexers and Delegators on L1.
Your Indexer has probably not used the L2 transfer tools to transfer stake yet.
If you can contact the Indexer, you can encourage them to use the L2 Transfer Tools so that Delegators can transfer delegations to their L2 Indexer address.
It is possible that the Indexer has set up operations on L2, but hasn't used the L2 transfer tools to transfer stake. The L1 smart contracts will therefore not know about the Indexer's L2 address. If you can contact the Indexer, you can encourage them to use the transfer tool so that Delegators can transfer delegations to their L2 Indexer address.
Can I transfer my delegation to L2 if I have started the undelegating process and haven't withdrawn it yet?
No. If your delegation is thawing, you have to wait the 28 days and withdraw it.
The tokens that are being undelegated are "locked" and therefore cannot be transferred to L2.
To transfer your curation, you will need to complete the following steps:
Initiate signal transfer on Ethereum mainnet
Specify an L2 Curator address*
Wait 20 minutes for confirmation
*If necessary - i.e. you are using a contract address.
When viewing the subgraph details page, a banner will notify you that this subgraph has been transferred. You can follow the prompt to transfer your curation. You can also find this information on the subgraph details page of any subgraph that has moved.
When a subgraph is deprecated you have the option to withdraw your signal. Similarly, if a subgraph has moved to L2, you can choose to withdraw your signal in Ethereum mainnet or send the signal to L2.
Signal details will be accessible via Explorer approximately 20 minutes after the L2 transfer tool is initiated.
There is no bulk transfer option at this time.
Disclaimer: If you are currently unstaking any portion of your GRT on your Indexer, you will not be able to use L2 Transfer Tools.
To transfer your stake, you will need to complete the following steps:
Initiate stake transfer on Ethereum mainnet
Wait 20 minutes for confirmation
Confirm stake transfer on Arbitrum
*Note that you must confirm the transfer within 7 days otherwise your stake may be lost. In most cases, this step will run automatically, but a manual confirmation may be needed if there is a gas price spike on Arbitrum. If there are any issues during this process, there will be resources to help: contact support at [email protected] or on Discord.
You can choose how much of your stake to transfer. If you choose to transfer all of your stake at once, you will need to close any open allocations first.
If you plan on transferring parts of your stake over multiple transactions, you must always specify the same beneficiary address.
Note: You must meet the minimum stake requirements on L2 the first time you use the transfer tool. Indexers must send the minimum 100k GRT (when calling this function the first time). If leaving a portion of stake on L1, it must also be over the 100k GRT minimum and be sufficient (together with your delegations) to cover your open allocations.
*** You must confirm your transaction to complete the stake transfer on Arbitrum. This step must be completed within 7 days or stake could be lost.
If you are not sending all of your stake, the L2 transfer tool will validate that at least the minimum 100k GRT remains in Ethereum mainnet and your remaining stake and delegation is enough to cover any open allocations. You may need to close open allocations if your GRT balance does not cover the minimums + open allocations.
Using the transfer tools, is it necessary to wait 28 days to unstake on Ethereum mainnet before transferring?
No, you can transfer your stake to L2 immediately, there's no need to unstake and wait before using the transfer tool. The 28-day wait only applies if you'd like to withdraw the stake back to your wallet, on Ethereum mainnet or L2.
It will take approximately 20 minutes for the L2 transfer tool to complete transferring your stake.
You can effectively transfer your stake first before setting up indexing, but you will not be able to claim any rewards on L2 until you allocate to subgraphs on L2, index them, and present POIs.
No, in order for Delegators to transfer their delegated GRT to Arbitrum, the Indexer they are delegating to must be active on L2.
Yes! The process is a bit different, because vesting contracts can't forward the ETH needed to pay for the L2 gas, so you need to deposit it beforehand. If your vesting contract is not fully vested, you will also have to first initialize a counterpart vesting contract on L2 and will only be able to transfer the stake to this L2 vesting contract. The UI on Explorer can guide you through this process when you've connected to Explorer using the vesting lock wallet.
I already have stake on L2. Do I still need to send 100k GRT when I use the transfer tools the first time?
Yes. The L1 smart contracts will not be aware of your L2 stake, so they will require you to transfer at least 100k GRT when you transfer for the first time.
No. If any fraction of your stake is thawing, you have to wait the 28 days and withdraw it before you can transfer stake. The tokens that are being staked are "locked" and will prevent any transfers or stake to L2.
To transfer your vesting, you will need to complete the following steps:
Initiate the vesting transfer on Ethereum mainnet
Wait 20 minutes for confirmation
Confirm vesting transfer on Arbitrum
Deposit some ETH into the transfer tool contract (UI can help estimate a reasonable amount)
Send some locked GRT through the transfer tool contract, to L2 to initialize the L2 vesting lock. This will also set their L2 beneficiary address.
Send their stake/delegation to L2 through the "locked" transfer tool functions in the L1Staking contract.
Withdraw any remaining ETH from the transfer tool contract
For those that are fully vested, the process is similar:
Deposit some ETH into the transfer tool contract (UI can help estimate a reasonable amount)
Set your L2 address with a call to the transfer tool contract
Send your stake/delegation to L2 through the "locked" transfer tool functions in the L1 Staking contract.
Withdraw any remaining ETH from the transfer tool contract
You can transfer your vesting contract's GRT balance to a vesting contract in L2. This is a prerequisite for transferring stake or delegation from your vesting contract to L2. The vesting contract must hold a nonzero amount of GRT (you can transfer a small amount like 1 GRT to it if needed).
When you transfer GRT from your L1 vesting contract to L2, you can choose the amount to send and you can do this as many times as you like. The L2 vesting contract will be initialized the first time you transfer GRT.
The transfers are done using a Transfer Tool that will be visible on your Explorer profile when you connect with the vesting contract account.
Please note that you will not be able to release/withdraw GRT from the L2 vesting contract until the end of your vesting timeline when your contract is fully vested. If you need to release GRT before then, you can transfer the GRT back to the L1 vesting contract using another transfer tool that is available for that purpose.
If you haven't transferred any vesting contract balance to L2, and your vesting contract is fully vested, you should not transfer your vesting contract to L2. Instead, you can use the transfer tools to set an L2 wallet address, and directly transfer your stake or delegation to this regular wallet on L2.
Yes, but if your contract is still vesting, you can only transfer the stake so that it is owned by your L2 vesting contract. You must first initialize this L2 contract by transferring some GRT balance using the vesting contract transfer tool on Explorer. If your contract is fully vested, you can transfer your stake to any address in L2, but you must set it beforehand and deposit some ETH for the L2 transfer tool to pay for L2 gas.
Yes, but if your contract is still vesting, you can only transfer the delegation so that it is owned by your L2 vesting contract. You must first initialize this L2 contract by transferring some GRT balance using the vesting contract transfer tool on Explorer. If your contract is fully vested, you can transfer your delegation to any address in L2, but you must set it beforehand and deposit some ETH for the L2 transfer tool to pay for L2 gas.
Yes, the first time you transfer a balance and set up your L2 vesting contract, you can specify an L2 beneficiary. Make sure this beneficiary is a wallet that can perform transactions on Arbitrum One, i.e. it must be an EOA or a multisig deployed to Arbitrum One.
If your contract is fully vested, you will not set up a vesting contract on L2; instead, you will set an L2 wallet address and this will be the receiving wallet for your stake or delegation on Arbitrum.
My contract is fully vested. Can I transfer my stake or delegation to another address that is not an L2 vesting contract?
Yes. If you haven't transferred any vesting contract balance to L2, and your vesting contract is fully vested, you should not transfer your vesting contract to L2. Instead, you can use the transfer tools to set an L2 wallet address, and directly transfer your stake or delegation to this regular wallet on L2.
This allows you to transfer your stake or delegation to any L2 address.
These steps only apply if your contract is still vesting, or if you've used this process before when your contract was still vesting.
To transfer your vesting contract to L2, you will send any GRT balance to L2 using the transfer tools, which will initialize your L2 vesting contract:
Deposit some ETH into the transfer tool contract (this will be used to pay for L2 gas)
Revoke protocol access to the vesting contract (needed for the next step)
Give protocol access to the vesting contract (will allow your contract to interact with the transfer tool)
Specify an L2 beneficiary address* and initiate the balance transfer on Ethereum mainnet
Wait 20 minutes for confirmation
Confirm the balance transfer on L2
*If necessary - i.e. you are using a contract address.
****You must confirm your transaction to complete the balance transfer on Arbitrum. This step must be completed within 7 days or the balance could be lost. In most cases, this step will run automatically, but a manual confirmation may be needed if there is a gas price spike on Arbitrum. If there are any issues during this process, there will be resources to help: contact support at [email protected] or on Discord.
To initialize your L2 vesting contract, you need to transfer a nonzero amount of GRT to L2. This is required by the Arbitrum GRT bridge that is used by the L2 Transfer Tools. The GRT must come from the vesting contract's balance, so it does not include staked or delegated GRT.
If you've staked or delegated all your GRT from the vesting contract, you can manually send a small amount like 1 GRT to the vesting contract address from anywhere else (e.g. from another wallet, or an exchange).
If your vesting contract hasn't finished vesting, you need to first create an L2 vesting contract that will receive your stake or delegation on L2. This vesting contract will not allow releasing tokens in L2 until the end of the vesting timeline, but will allow you to transfer GRT back to the L1 vesting contract to be released there.
When connected with the vesting contract on Explorer, you should see a button to initialize your L2 vesting contract. Follow that process first, and you will then see the buttons to transfer your stake or delegation in your profile.
No, initializing your L2 vesting contract is a prerequisite for transferring stake or delegation from the vesting contract, but you still need to transfer these separately.
You will see a banner on your profile prompting you to transfer your stake or delegation after you have initialized your L2 vesting contract.
There is no need to do so because your vesting contract is still in L1. When you use the transfer tools, you just create a new contract in L2 that is connected with your L1 vesting contract, and you can send GRT back and forth between the two.
You need to set up an L2 vesting contract so that this account can own your stake or delegation on L2. Otherwise, there'd be no way for you to transfer the stake/delegation to L2 without "escaping" the vesting contract.
This is not a possibility. You can move funds back to L1 and withdraw them there.
You can keep staking/delegating on L1. Over time, you may want to consider moving to L2 to enable rewards there as the protocol scales on Arbitrum. Note that these transfer tools are for vesting contracts that are allowed to stake and delegate in the protocol. If your contract does not allow staking or delegating, or is revocable, then there is no transfer tool available. You will still be able to withdraw your GRT from L1 when available.