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When a swap cannot be completed after the user has sent funds, Layerswap automatically initiates a refund. The refund is always processed on the source chain in the source token. Gas fees for processing the refund transaction are deducted from the refund amount.

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When does a refund happen?

Common scenarios that trigger a refund:
  • Quote expiration: The user’s deposit arrived after the original quote expired, and Layerswap could not obtain a valid new quote.
  • Insufficient liquidity: The solver does not have enough liquidity to complete the transaction.
  • Provider execution failure: A swap provider (e.g. a DEX) encountered an error during execution.
  • Destination chain unavailability: The destination chain is unavailable due to an RPC outage or chain reorganization.

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Refund statuses

When a refund is initiated, the swap transitions to refund_pending. Once the refund transaction is confirmed on-chain, the status changes to refunded. See the Swap lifecycle for the full status flow.

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Refund address

You can provide a refund_address when creating a swap. This must be a valid address on the source network. If the swap route involves a swap provider, the refund address is required.

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Identifying a refund transaction

A refunded swap will have a transaction with type: "refund" in its transactions array: 
curl -X GET \
  'https://api.layerswap.io/api/v2/swaps/d0050d05-4e75-4e9c-8b89-c1c8cbee4a62?exclude_deposit_actions=true' \
  -H 'accept: application/json' \
  -H 'X-LS-APIKEY: bwDJw8c1mesRyWfO3WrOB7iE48xAkVEI5QWlgnNFHnwH/4W+zHOcRoM5D3Sne3eCXRqUzHTMXBt0hrd+lO4ASw'
The response will contain the swap with status: "refunded" and a refund transaction in the transactions array: 
{
  "data": {
    "swap": {
      "id": "d0050d05-4e75-4e9c-8b89-c1c8cbee4a62",
      "status": "refunded",
      "source_network": { "name": "ETHEREUM_MAINNET", "display_name": "Ethereum" },
      "source_token": { "symbol": "mUSD", "display_asset": "MetaMask USD" },
      "destination_network": { "name": "ETHEREUM_MAINNET", "display_name": "Ethereum" },
      "destination_token": { "symbol": "ETH", "display_asset": "ETH" },
      "requested_amount": 0.052854,
      "transactions": [
        {
          "from": "0x425ce7a885c77b6b417e886ae542318250628a9d",
          "to": "0x08b00ceee2fb66029b53d76110b19eeaabfd1e65",
          "transaction_hash": "0x01885c930c698370b82f2614692eab5305e3d493238eb9750c88f80e172d0884",
          "amount": 0.052854,
          "type": "input",
          "status": "completed",
          "token": { "symbol": "mUSD" },
          "network": { "name": "ETHEREUM_MAINNET" }
        },
        {
          "from": "0x08b00ceee2fb66029b53d76110b19eeaabfd1e65",
          "to": "0x425ce7a885c77b6b417e886ae542318250628a9d",
          "transaction_hash": "0xa8a71bd2093c09b254f870fdeef38639f5ce712645f2c425acedb655616967ef",
          "amount": 0.052854,
          "type": "refund",
          "status": "completed",
          "token": { "symbol": "mUSD" },
          "network": { "name": "ETHEREUM_MAINNET" }
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}
The refund transaction shows the on-chain transfer back to the user in the original source token.