What Happens if I Don't Have Enough Power to Execute a Smart Contract

We continue the series of articles about the Tron cryptocurrency ecosystem. And today we will tell you about the risks that a developer or user of smart contracts faces due to a lack of Energy. And at the same time, we will remind you what Energy is, how it can be obtained for free, in order to avoid the troubles described in this article when interacting with smart contracts.

What is Energy for Blockchain

We have discussed a number of features of this platform in previous publications, but it will not hurt to repeat them for those who have just joined us.

So, we found out that the Tron network was initially intended for developers and users of decentralized applications - DApps. Therefore, it was initially built on the principle of blockchain. This means that all blocks with encoded information are available to each user of the network. That is, the information is stored not on remote servers, but on users' devices located in many places around the world.

It would seem that such a system is open to fraudsters and various abuses. But think about it: to get information from a server, you will have to hack it once, no matter how complex and reliable the protection is. To get information from a blockchain platform, you need to hack all the devices where the information is stored, and the Tron blockchain platform has more than 140 million users. No attacker will have enough time or resources for this.

Malicious actions are resisted by both the blockchain structure and algorithms, as well as by network users. The system provides its users with the ability to control transactions and add new blocks after careful validation. For this, there is a multi-stage system of validator elections. Initially, a vote is held for delegates, then for candidate representatives, then for candidates for super representatives. And from them, the system automatically selects 27 validators every 6 hours. Among other things, the period of uninterrupted operation of the node that the validator represents and the volume of crypto blocked by it are taken into account.

The task of the network's validators is to check transactions, exclude malicious spam and add new blocks. For this purpose, they use their computer and undergo simple training beforehand.

Ensuring the integrity of the blockchain is the main goal of validation. Super representatives are the final and decisive structure of democratic governance of the network, as they have the right not only to resolve conflicts, but also to vote on technical issues, issues of organizing interaction between participants, as well as on provisions related to commission charges and resource quotas.

By the way, the resources in the Tron network are no different from those used on other blockchains - this is Energyand Bandwidth. The first compensates for the network consumption of providing the participant with computing power, and the second compensates for the traffic used.

What operations are these resources used for? They are used to pay commissions for simple transactions (Bandwidth and TRX), as well as commissions for any type of interaction with smart contracts (TRX, Energy and Bandwidth). We specifically included TRX in the list – tokens of the native currency of the Tron ecosystem. Because the commission for traffic and computing resources can be paid in crypto. But this is not profitable, and it is better to use resources for this purpose.

Bandwidth and TRX are used to pay fees for simple transactions using TRC-10 tokens. But we won't dwell on that in this thread, as we're discussing the development and interaction with smart contracts that require a resource like Energy.

Why do we pay much less attention to the Bandwidth resource? Because every day, every registered (having an account of different levels) network member will receive a certain amount of this resource for free. If this amount is not enough for you, you can buy it for TRX or get it for free.

Energy is not restored by the blockchain for free. This resource must either be paid for with crypto or received for free.

This is the second time we have said that resources in the Tron network can be obtained for free. But how does this work in practice?

How Energy Is Used for a Smart Contract

In short and figuratively, this resource is the fuel for a smart contract. A smart contract is essentially a decentralized application in which a program of relationships is written in open code. The algorithm of this program consists of conditions like if … then. And why is this better than a regular agreement written on paper?

The terms written down on paper can be interpreted differently depending on the level of professionalism of the lawyer. That is, a verified and signed contract can be transferred to third parties if someone violated the terms of the contract or found a trick to refuse to fulfill any part. For example, to court, arbitration, etc.

The smart contract after being "signed" by the parties is not subject to discussion. The completeness of the program execution is controlled automatically. Third parties do not interfere in the process of developing the smart contract and further interaction.

The advantages of a smart contract are that it does not require trust between the parties, can cover any transaction in various areas, is transparent, since it is an open code that can be accessed by every participant in the blockchain, is safe in terms of the exact execution of conditions and the receipt of remuneration, compensation, goods, real estate or art, etc.

Sometimes the essence of a smart contract is illustrated by an example of paying for a purchase in a store with a bank card. You select a product, the cash register displays the cost, funds are withdrawn from the card to transfer them from the bank to the retail outlet, after the transaction is confirmed (withdrawal of funds from the card), you receive your purchases. Yes, everything is automated here too, an algorithm with “if ... then” conditions is in effect, and you also will not receive the product if there are insufficient funds on the card (unless you pay extra in cash). But this is not a completely correct comparison, since there is a human factor, a huge amount of additional expensive equipment and no commission for computing power (the commission for purchases using a QR code is payment for the services of the Fast Payment Service, but this is a completely different relationship and even more expensive equipment).

To develop a smart contract and interact with it, you need a device with access to the blockchain network – that’s all. Oh, and a supply of such a resource as Energy to pay the transaction fees.

How to Get Energy for Free

In the cryptocurrency sphere, there are currently two models for obtaining it from personal reserves - mining and staking. We will not dwell on the first model in detail, we will only say that mining crypto requires expensive equipment and a lot of electricity. In addition to the fact that for most people who want to do mining, this is expensive, the process also requires studying a rather complicated technology. Staking is available to most owners of smartphones, tablets and personal computers with not the most expensive "stuffing".

Because the cryptocurrency staking model is its peculiar distribution among all participants of the blockchain. Yes, crypto staking is a topic of a decentralized network.

We have already said that Energy can be bought, but spending TRX crypto tokens on purchasing resources is not a rational decision. After all, Energy can be obtained for free as a reward for providing part of your TRX savings to the blockchain for use. Don't worry - only for a while, with their full balance preserved on your balance.

But for sending TRX to freeze, you will be credited with Energy if you choose this resource as a reward for providing your crypto. Tron sets the minimum freezing time and the volume of tokens. And the maximum depends on your desire and capabilities. This is staking in its passive form.

An active form of staking is participation in voting for delegates from the bush to all levels up to super representatives. You can get an invitation to participate in voting even by simply regularly setting aside a portion of TRX to freeze to obtain resources for your own needs. By the way, you can also get Bandwidth this way. Just when blocking a portion of TRX, select the type of resource or both through the wallet interface.

With active staking, your "mining" can be much larger. Here, everything depends on what level you have reached on the way from a user to a super representative and the amount of TRX that you block on account of the general crypto from the node. But in this case, you have the opportunity to replenish your reserves not only with resources, but also with crypto, since rewards are given both for participation in voting and for adding blocks.

If a Tron blockchain user engages in smart contracts in any form, whether as a developer or as a representative of a party to a smart contract, they must have a significant supply of Energy, since all transactions involving smart contracts are paid for with fees in the form of Energy.

It is especially worth noting those developers and consumers who are engaged in decentralized applications DApps, including financial decentralized DeFi applications. As a rule, they represent a package of smart contracts, interaction with which will require not 1-2 transactions, but much more - from 10 and above. This means that more Energy will be required to compensate for the computing resources that the network will provide for this time.

Energy for a Smart Contract Lead to?

Now let's look at the options that the Tron blockchain platform can take if, during the execution of a smart contract, it turns out that you have run out of Energy. The choice of network depends on the specific situation, and in many ways - on the fullness of your wallet.

Using TRX to Pay for Execution

Be prepared for the fact that if you have a stock of TRX tokens, the Tron ecosystem will not even warn you when you run out of Energy before completing an interaction with a smart contract . It will simply continue to charge a fee for subsequent transactions in cryptocurrency. Tronix directly from your wallet. The greater the Energy shortage, the more TRX tokens the network will burn.

Failure to Fulfill Contract

And the above-described option is not the most unpleasant. In the end, the developer can request unforeseen expenses from the customer, and the parties to the smart contract can distribute them among themselves.

It's much worse if, when working with a smart contract or DApps, you don't have enough Energy to compensate for the computing resources, nor TRX to continue paying for transactions without interrupting interaction with the smart contract or DApps, which, as we have already found out, can be a package of smart contracts.

In this case, not only the transaction will be interrupted, the system will show an error with a lack of resources and crypto, and the smart contract will be cancelled. Of course, the resources and TRX that were paid for previous transactions under this smart contract will not be returned, because the computing resources were used by the developer. The more complex the smart contract, the more Energy and TRX it risks spending without the expected result.

Potential Blocking of Funds

Energy and TRX shortage scenarios described above when interacting with smart contracts are simply a loss of your reserves. Simple? What could be worse?

Blocking funds. The blockchain may consider the result of interrupted development as a partially completed contract - and will block the funds in your wallet or the wallets of the parties to the smart contract until it is fully completed.

How to Avoid the Lack of Energy Problem

There are several simple ways to avoid running out of resources when developing or interacting with smart contracts.

1. Send more native crypto to staking (freezing) - this is the most accessible way for all participants to receive ofEnergy. The more TRX tokens you lock, the more of this important resource for compensating computing resources you will receive for the efficient and secure development of smart contracts, up to the point of reducing the cost of all transactions to zero.

2. Preliminarily correctly estimate the complexity of the smart contract taking into account all transactions and the cost of the commission for their implementation. Correctly determining the amount of resources for each specific smart contract helps to "prepare" Energy in sufficient volume.

3. Control your balance of Energy in your wallet. TronLink is a native wallet that displays the resources and crypto available at the moment. Check the availability and amount of Energy every time you start developing a smart contract or decentralized application. Plan the transactions of each smart contract in advance.

Determining the Cost of Contract Execution

Smart contract developers need to know how much Energy is required to interact with each specific smart contract, and not use data from previous work or averages.

Smart contract or decentralized application developers must communicate exact resource consumption figures to consumers so that they can lock up some crypto to obtain enough Energy.

Resource Planning

Active developers and users of smart contracts should use the capabilities of the Tron blockchain platform, which provides the ability to freeze significant amounts of native crypto to obtain, among other things, the Energy resource. You will save your TRX tokens and ensure free transactions even when working with complex smart contracts. And most importantly, you will eliminate all the unpleasant options that a lack of funds for commissions can cause.

To sum it up, let's note the main thing: if you are a developer or user of smart contracts or decentralized applications, you should have a sufficient amount of on your Energy balance, which should be controlled. Otherwise, you risk paying for part of the transactions with native crypto - and this is not the most unpleasant option. Even worse, if the transaction is rejected and the smart contract is blocked as not fully executed.

To avoid this, plan your spending of Energy per smart contract, rather than using averages based on previous experience. The more you participate in smart contracts, the more complex your developments, the more you should have in your wallet of