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Improve ERC20Snapshot documentation (#2186)
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Co-authored-by: Nicolás Venturo <nicolas.venturo@gmail.com>
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frangio and nventuro authored Apr 14, 2020
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Showing 1 changed file with 48 additions and 11 deletions.
59 changes: 48 additions & 11 deletions contracts/token/ERC20/ERC20Snapshot.sol
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -6,16 +6,28 @@ import "../../utils/Counters.sol";
import "./ERC20.sol";

/**
* @dev ERC20 token with snapshots.
* @dev This contract extends an ERC20 token with a snapshot mechanism. When a snapshot is created, the balances and
* total supply at the time are recorded for later access.
*
* When a snapshot is made, the balances and total supply at the time of the snapshot are recorded for later
* access.
* This can be used to safely create mechanisms based on token balances such as trustless dividends or weighted voting.
* In naive implementations it's possible to perform a "double spend" attack by reusing the same balance from different
* accounts. By using snapshots to calculate dividends or voting power, those attacks no longer apply. It can also be
* used to create an efficient ERC20 forking mechanism.
*
* To make a snapshot, call the {snapshot} function, which will emit the {Snapshot} event and return a snapshot id.
* To get the total supply from a snapshot, call the function {totalSupplyAt} with the snapshot id.
* To get the balance of an account from a snapshot, call the {balanceOfAt} function with the snapshot id and the
* account address.
* @author Validity Labs AG <info@validitylabs.org>
* Snapshots are created by the internal {_snapshot} function, which will emit the {Snapshot} event and return a
* snapshot id. To get the total supply at the time of a snapshot, call the function {totalSupplyAt} with the snapshot
* id. To get the balance of an account at the time of a snapshot, call the {balanceOfAt} function with the snapshot id
* and the account address.
*
* ==== Gas Costs
*
* Snapshots are efficient. Snapshot creation is _O(1)_. Retrieval of balances or total supply from a snapshot is _O(log
* n)_ in the number of snapshots that have been created, although _n_ for a specific account will generally be much
* smaller since identical balances in subsequent snapshots are stored as a single entry.
*
* There is a constant overhead for normal ERC20 transfers due to the additional snapshot bookkeeping. This overhead is
* only significant for the first transfer that immediately follows a snapshot for a particular account. Subsequent
* transfers will have normal cost until the next snapshot, and so on.
*/
abstract contract ERC20Snapshot is ERC20 {
// Inspired by Jordi Baylina's MiniMeToken to record historical balances:
Expand All @@ -38,12 +50,31 @@ abstract contract ERC20Snapshot is ERC20 {
// Snapshot ids increase monotonically, with the first value being 1. An id of 0 is invalid.
Counters.Counter private _currentSnapshotId;

/**
* @dev Emitted by {_snapshot} when a snapshot identified by `id` is created.
*/
event Snapshot(uint256 id);

/**
* @dev Creates a new snapshot id. Balances are only stored in snapshots on demand: unless a snapshot was taken, a
* balance change will not be recorded. This means the extra added cost of storing snapshotted balances is only paid
* when required, but is also flexible enough that it allows for e.g. daily snapshots.
* @dev Creates a new snapshot and returns its snapshot id.
*
* Emits a {Snapshot} event that contains the same id.
*
* {_snapshot} is `internal`: you must decide how to expose it externally. This can be done both by
* guarding it with a system such as {AccessControl}, or by leaving it open to the public.
*
* [WARNING]
* ====
* While an open way of calling {_snapshot} is required for certain trust minimization mechanisms such as forking,
* you must consider that it can potentially be used by attackers in two ways.
*
* First, it can be used to increase the cost of retrieval of values from snapshots, although it will grow
* logarithmically thus rendering this attack ineffective in the long term. Second, it can be used to target
* specific accounts and increase the cost of ERC20 transfers for them, in the ways specified in the Gas Costs
* section above.
*
* We haven't measured the actual numbers; if this is something you're interested in please reach out to us.
* ====
*/
function _snapshot() internal virtual returns (uint256) {
_currentSnapshotId.increment();
Expand All @@ -53,12 +84,18 @@ abstract contract ERC20Snapshot is ERC20 {
return currentId;
}

/**
* @dev Retrieves the balance of `account` at the time `snapshotId` was created.
*/
function balanceOfAt(address account, uint256 snapshotId) public view returns (uint256) {
(bool snapshotted, uint256 value) = _valueAt(snapshotId, _accountBalanceSnapshots[account]);

return snapshotted ? value : balanceOf(account);
}

/**
* @dev Retrieves the total supply at the time `snapshotId` was created.
*/
function totalSupplyAt(uint256 snapshotId) public view returns(uint256) {
(bool snapshotted, uint256 value) = _valueAt(snapshotId, _totalSupplySnapshots);

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