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Is Request Network a blockchain, smart contract platform, or L2 scaling solution?
Is Request Network a blockchain, smart contract platform, or L2 scaling solution?
No. Request Network is not a blockchain, smart contract platform, or scaling solution. Rather, it’s a protocol for storing payment requests, facilitating onchain payments, and reconciling those payments with the requests. It stores payment requests in IPFS and CID hashes on Gnosis Chain. It uses The Graph for onchain event indexing. It processes payments across a variety of supported payment chains.
What is the difference between Request Network and Request Finance?
What is the difference between Request Network and Request Finance?
Request Network is an open-source protocol. Request Finance is a product built on top of Request Network. Request Finance has spun off from Request Network, and they are now two separate teams.
Do I need to create a request on the same chain that I want to receive payment?
Do I need to create a request on the same chain that I want to receive payment?
No. Requests are created on Gnosis Chain (or Sepolia for testing), even if the payment will happen on a different chain. Payment(s) can occur on any of our supported payment chains.To help builders get started quickly, the Request Network Foundation operates Request Node Gateways that are free for anyone to use. These gateways offer endpoints for creating and retrieving requests.Requests created on Gnosis Chain are “real” and will exist forever. Requests created on Sepolia are “test” requests and will exist only as long as Sepolia continues to operate.
Is the address that creates a request the same address that receives the payment?
Is the address that creates a request the same address that receives the payment?
It can be, but not necessarily. The Signer Identity that signs to create a request is defined by the
signer parameter. This is separate from the Payment Recipient which is defined by the paymentNetwork.parameters.paymentAddress parameter. They can be the same or different.This design allows for a single payee identity to have potentially multiple payment recipient addresses.See Parties of a Request for details.Are requests in Request Network stored fully onchain?
Are requests in Request Network stored fully onchain?
No. Request Network is a hybrid onchain/offchain protocol storing the majority of request contents in IPFS. Only the content-addressable ID (CID) is stored onchain, on Gnosis Chain.
Can I make a payment before creating a request?
Can I make a payment before creating a request?
Yes. Payments are linked to requests via a Payment Reference derived from the request contents. Therefore, it is possible to calculate the
paymentReference and execute a payment before creating the corresponding request.Does Request Network support requests for fiat currency?
Does Request Network support requests for fiat currency?
Yes and No.Requests can be denominated in fiat currencies like USD, EUR, etc. (ISO 4217 currencies) but our payment smart contracts only support payments in cryptocurrencies. We call these Conversion Payments, in which the requested fiat amount is converted to the appropriate cryptocurrency amount using onchain price feeds at the moment of payment.It is possible to implement fiat payments using Declarative Requests, where the payer declares that the payment was sent and the payee declares that the payment was received.
Does Request Network support crypto-to-fiat (off-ramp) or fiat-to-crypto (on-ramp) payments?
Does Request Network support crypto-to-fiat (off-ramp) or fiat-to-crypto (on-ramp) payments?
Crypto-to-fiat (off-ramp) payments are supported via the Request Network API — see Crypto-to-fiat Payments. Fiat-to-crypto (on-ramp) payments are not currently supported by the API.
Can a Request Node modify a request's contents before persisting it to IPFS and onchain?
Can a Request Node modify a request's contents before persisting it to IPFS and onchain?
No. A Request Node cannot change a request’s contents before persisting it to IPFS and onchain because doing so would invalidate the signature. This is true for private, encrypted requests as well. The Request Node cannot forge the end-user’s signature.
Can I access a user's historical invoices created via Request Finance?
Can I access a user's historical invoices created via Request Finance?
Yes. It is possible to request access to a user’s Request Finance invoices using the add-stakeholder web component which is just a thin wrapper around the Request Finance Add Stakeholders API. They display a dialog that prompts the end-user to grant access to 1 invoice at a time.Details:
- Request Finance invoices are encrypted.
- Request Network Foundation cannot grant access to encrypted requests in Request Finance.
Does Request Network support crosschain payments where the payer sends funds on one chain and the payee receives funds on a different chain?
Does Request Network support crosschain payments where the payer sends funds on one chain and the payee receives funds on a different chain?
Yes, via the Request Network API only. Crosschain payments are not supported by the protocol directly. When using the API, payers can fund requests using assets on different chains and tokens, and the payee receives the requested asset on the request’s chain. For example, you can pay a USDC-on-Base request using USDT from Optimism.See Crosschain Payments for implementation details.
Can I create a request via a smart contract call?
Can I create a request via a smart contract call?
No. It is not currently possible to create a request via a smart contract call. However, RequestNetwork/public-issues#15 is in our roadmap to make this possible.The recommended way to create a request is using the Request Network API.