# Understanding UTXOs on Verus

How Verus tracks ownership of funds — the "digital cash" model explained

# What Is a UTXO?

UTXO stands for Unspent Transaction Output. It's how Verus (and Bitcoin) tracks who owns what. Instead of maintaining account balances like a bank, the blockchain tracks individual "chunks" of coins.

Think of it like physical cash:

Bank Account Model (Ethereum):
  Alice's balance: 150 VRSC
  → One number that goes up and down

UTXO Model (Verus/Bitcoin):
  Alice has:
  ├─ 50 VRSC   (received from mining reward)
  ├─ 30 VRSC   (received from Bob)
  └─ 70 VRSC   (change from a previous transaction)
  → Three separate "coins" that add up to 150 VRSC

Each UTXO is like a bill in your wallet. You don't have "a balance" — you have a collection of individual unspent outputs from previous transactions.

# How Transactions Work with UTXOs

When you send VRSC, you don't subtract from a balance. You spend one or more UTXOs and create new ones.

# Example: Alice sends 45 VRSC to Bob

Alice has three UTXOs: 50, 30, and 70 VRSC.

INPUTS (UTXOs being spent):         OUTPUTS (new UTXOs created):
┌─────────────────────┐             ┌──────────────────────┐
│ Alice's 50 VRSC     │────────────→│ Bob: 45 VRSC         │  (Bob's new UTXO)
└─────────────────────┘             │ Alice: 4.9999 VRSC   │  (change back to Alice)
                                    │ Fee: 0.0001 VRSC     │  (miner fee)
                                    └──────────────────────┘

What happened:

Alice's 50 VRSC UTXO is consumed (spent entirely — you can't partially spend a UTXO)
A new 45 VRSC UTXO is created for Bob
A new 4.9999 VRSC UTXO is created as change back to Alice
The 0.0001 VRSC difference is the transaction fee

Alice's remaining UTXOs are now: 4.9999, 30, and 70 VRSC.

Key insight: UTXOs are always spent in full. If you have a 50 VRSC UTXO and want to send 10, the transaction consumes the entire 50 and sends you 39.9999 back as change. Just like paying with a $50 bill for a $10 item — you get change back.

# UTXOs vs Account Model

Feature	UTXO Model (Verus)	Account Model (Ethereum)
Balance tracking	Collection of unspent outputs	Single balance number
Privacy	Better — different UTXOs can use different addresses	Worse — all activity tied to one address
Parallel processing	UTXOs can be spent independently	Transactions must be sequential (nonce)
Transaction size	Larger (references all inputs)	Smaller (just amount + nonce)
Mental model	Physical cash / coins in a jar	Bank account balance
Double-spend prevention	Each UTXO can only be spent once	Nonce ordering prevents replays

# Why UTXOs Matter for Verus Users

# 1. Staking

This is where UTXOs matter most on Verus. Each UTXO stakes independently. A larger UTXO has a higher probability of being selected to stake a block.

Scenario A — One big UTXO:
  └─ 10,000 VRSC (single UTXO)
  → Stakes frequently, but all-or-nothing

Scenario B — Many small UTXOs:
  ├─ 100 VRSC
  ├─ 100 VRSC
  ├─ ... (100 UTXOs)
  └─ 100 VRSC
  → Each has a small chance to stake independently

Which is better? Over time, the expected staking reward is roughly the same regardless of UTXO size. However:

Fewer large UTXOs = simpler wallet, fewer transactions to track
More smaller UTXOs = more frequent but smaller rewards (smoother income)
Very tiny UTXOs (dust) = may never stake and waste resources

Staking eligibility: A UTXO must have at least 150 confirmations (~2.5 hours at ~60s/block) before it can stake.

# 2. Privacy

Each UTXO can be associated with a different address. When you receive VRSC, your wallet may generate a new address for each transaction. This makes it harder for observers to link all your funds together.

However, when you spend multiple UTXOs in a single transaction, they become linked — an observer can infer they belong to the same person. This is called a common input ownership heuristic.

For maximum privacy, use shielded transactions which hide UTXOs entirely using zero-knowledge proofs.

# 3. Transaction Fees

Transactions that consume more UTXOs (more inputs) are physically larger in bytes. Verus uses a flat 0.0001 VRSC fee for standard transactions, but extremely complex transactions with many inputs could cost more.

# 4. Currency Tokens

On Verus, tokens and currencies also use the UTXO model. When you hold 500 yourapp tokens, you might actually have several UTXOs:

Token UTXOs:
├─ 200 yourapp tokens (from minting)
├─ 150 yourapp tokens (from a trade)
└─ 150 yourapp tokens (from a payment)

These work exactly like VRSC UTXOs — spent in full, with change returned.

# Managing Your UTXOs

# View Your UTXOs

# List all unspent outputs in your wallet
./verus listunspent

# List UTXOs with at least 6 confirmations
./verus listunspent 6

# List UTXOs for a specific address
./verus listunspent 1 9999999 '["RYourAddress"]'

Each entry shows:

txid — The transaction that created this UTXO
vout — The output index within that transaction
amount — How much VRSC this UTXO holds
confirmations — How many blocks since it was created
spendable — Whether your wallet can spend it

# Check UTXOs for Any Address (requires `-addressindex=1`)

# Get UTXOs for any address (not just your wallet)
./verus getaddressutxos '{"addresses":["RAddress..."]}'

# Consolidate UTXOs

If you have many small UTXOs (dust), you can consolidate them by sending your full balance to yourself:

# Send all to yourself — combines many UTXOs into one
./verus sendtoaddress "RYourAddress" $(./verus getbalance) "" "" true

The true at the end subtracts the fee from the amount, so it sends your entire balance.

# Split UTXOs for Staking

If you have one large UTXO and want to split it for more frequent staking rewards:

# Split into multiple UTXOs
./verus sendcurrency "*" '[
  {"address":"RYourAddress","amount":2500},
  {"address":"RYourAddress","amount":2500},
  {"address":"RYourAddress","amount":2500},
  {"address":"RYourAddress","amount":2500}
]'

This turns one 10,000 VRSC UTXO into four 2,500 VRSC UTXOs.

# UTXO Lifecycle

   Created                    Mature                    Spent
      │                         │                         │
      ▼                         ▼                         ▼
 ┌─────────┐  150 blocks   ┌─────────┐  Used as     ┌─────────┐
 │  New     │──────────────→│ Eligible│──input in──→ │ Spent   │
 │  UTXO    │  (~2.5 hrs)  │ to stake│  a new tx    │ (gone)  │
 └─────────┘               └─────────┘              └─────────┘
                                │                        │
                                │ Selected for staking   │ Creates new UTXOs
                                ▼                        ▼
                           ┌─────────┐             ┌─────────┐
                           │ Staking │             │ Change  │
                           │ reward  │             │ + Output│
                           └─────────┘             └─────────┘
                           (new UTXO,              (new UTXOs for
                            needs 150              recipient and
                            confirms               sender change)
                            again)

Important: When a UTXO stakes successfully, it's consumed and a new UTXO is created with the original amount plus the staking reward. This new UTXO needs another 150 confirmations before it can stake again.

# Common Questions

Q: Do I need to manage my UTXOs manually? A: For basic use, no. Your wallet handles UTXO selection automatically when you send transactions. UTXO management mainly matters for optimizing staking.

Q: What is "dust"? A: Very small UTXOs (fractions of a coin) that cost more in transaction fees to spend than they're worth. They clutter your wallet and are unlikely to ever stake.

Q: Why does my balance show different amounts in different commands? A: Some commands show only confirmed UTXOs, others include unconfirmed (mempool) transactions. Use getbalance for confirmed balance and getunconfirmedbalance for pending.

Q: Can someone see my UTXOs? A: On the transparent chain, yes — anyone can query an address's UTXOs. Use shielded addresses (z-addresses) if you want privacy. Note that z-addresses can only hold the native currency (VRSC), not tokens.

listunspent — List your wallet's UTXOs
getaddressutxos — Query UTXOs for any address
getaddressbalance — Quick balance check by address
sendcurrency — Send funds (automatically selects UTXOs)
z_sendmany — Send with explicit source address

Mining and Staking — How UTXOs participate in consensus
Privacy and Shielded Transactions — Hiding UTXOs with zero-knowledge proofs
Key Concepts — Foundational Verus concepts

As of Verus v1.2.x.