FAQ
Where can I access the Sablier protocols?
You can access Sablier through the following web interfaces:
- app.sablier.com
- app.safe.global (if you are using a Safe multisig wallet)
What is real-time finance?
A term coined by us to emphasize the wide-ranging use cases for the Sablier protocols. We like to think about work as an attempt to rethink the way trust is established in financial contracts.
What is token streaming?
An alternative wording, coined by Andreas Antonopoulos in 2017. Just like you can stream movies on Netflix or music on Spotify, so you can stream tokens by the second on Sablier.
How does streaming work on Sablier Lockup?
Imagine Alice wants to stream 3000 DAI to Bob during the whole month of January.
- Alice deposits the 3000 DAI in Lockup before Jan 1, setting the end time to Feb 1.
- Bob's allocation of the DAI deposit increases every second beginning Jan 1.
- On Jan 10, Bob will have earned approximately 1000 DAI. He can send a transaction to withdraw the tokens.
- If at any point during January Alice wishes to get back her tokens, she can cancel the stream and recover what has not been streamed yet.
How does streaming work on Sablier Flow?
Imagine Alice wants to stream 3000 DAI on a monthly basis to Bob.
- Alice creates a stream on Flow with a rate of 3000 DAI per month.
- Alice deposits 200 DAI in Flow.
- On Jan 10, Bob is owed 1000 DAI, but there is only 200 DAI in the stream. So he can only withdraw 200 DAI.
- Alice deposits another 2800 DAI in Flow, and Bob can now withdraw the remaining 800 DAI.
- On Feb 1, Bob is able to withdraw 2800 DAI.
- The stream will continue indefinitely until it is paused (by Alice) or voided (by either Alice or Bob).
How can I create a stream?
You will need an EVM wallet (Metamask, Rainbow, etc.), some ETH (or the network's token to pay gas fees) and an ERC-20 token like DAI. Then, choose your favorite interface for accessing the Sablier protocols (such as app.sablier.com) and fill in the recipient's address, the deposit amount and the total duration.
Alternatively, you can see here how to manually create a stream using Etherscan.
How does Lockup streaming work?
Dividing the deposit amount by the difference between the stop time and the start time gives us a payment rate per second. Lockup uses this rate to transfer a small portion of tokens from the sender to the recipient once every second.
For instance, if the payment rate was 0.01 DAI per second, the recipient would receive:
DAI / minute, DAI / hour, DAI / day
Where are the tokens held?
In the Sablier smart contracts. You can verify this assertion by inspecting Etherscan or any other blockchain explorer.
How can recipients access their tokens?
As the tokens are being streamed at the smart contract level, recipients can consider Sablier their real-time wallet for digital currency.
To make withdrawals, recipients can:
- Use a web interface (e.g. app.sablier.com).
- Call the contract directly on a blockchain explorer.
Can I cancel streams?
Yes, both as a sender and a recipient.
If the stream is canceled before the start time, the whole deposit amount is returned in full to you. If the stream is canceled while the stream is active, the smart contracts calculate how much has been streamed, transfer that to the recipient and return the remainder to you. If the stream is canceled after the stream has stopped, the smart contracts transfers all the remaining funds (if any) to the recipient.
Can I modify the streaming rate?
On Lockup, once a stream is created, it is set in stone on the Ethereum blockchain. Whereas on Flow, a stream rate per second can be modified anytime by the creator.
How are vested airdrops different from a batch of normal streams?
Creating streams through the form (manual or CSV) will immediately start the vesting period. You click to create the transaction, pay for the gas, and you start all the streams for your recipients.
Due to how block gas limits work, you can only fit a limited number of streams (usually 60) in a single block before running out of space. This is great for small distributions like paying your contractors or a set of investors.
Meanwhile, vested airdrops leverage a "lazy creation" of streams. You deploy a contract that stores a list of recipients and the streams they are entitles to claim. Every recipient will manually claim their allocation by creating a stream. This allows for millions of recipients in your distribution campaign, with each recipient triggering the stream creation one after the other (as opposed to all at once).
| Feature | Groups | Airdrops |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum number of streams | ~60 (depends on block gas limit) | Millions |
| Gas to create streams | Sender paying | Each recipient paying |
| Gas to deploy Airdrop contract | N/A | Sender paying |
| Streams show up onchain | Immediately | Lazily |
| Good for | Investors, Employees | Large communities |