Here’s a short technical explanation that highlights the differences in the data of a Bitcoin and a Liquid Network transaction. Transaction data in Liquid and Bitcoin is similar in many ways because Liquid is built on top of Bitcoin’s code base. But Liquid transactions contain some additional fields and the data is returned in slightly different formats.

For a very detailed, field-by-field, breakdown of the Liquid transaction format please refer to the Elements Transaction Format page on the Elements open source repository.

The Elements GitHub page for Ele — The Elements repository has details of the transaction format and data types used

For a line-by-line explanation of everything returned in a Liquid transaction open Elements Core, go to Window > Console and enter each of the commands below to see more details of what they accept and return.

gettransaction
decoderawtransaction

Calling gettransaction

When calling gettransaction in Liquid, the amount is returned as an array, which shows the amount of each asset held.

"amount": {  
    "bitcoin": 0.00000000  
  },

When calling gettransaction in Bitcoin, an array is not returned, only as a simple property and value pair:

"amount": 0.00000000,

In Liquid, the fee amount is returned as below, which shows the amount of the asset used to pay fees.

"amount": {
    "bitcoin": 0.00000000
  },

In Bitcoin, the fee returned only as a simple property and value pair.

"amount": 0.00000000,

Liquid introduces three new fields that are returned in gettransaction that show the asset being transacted along with the amount being transacted and asset blinders (when applicable).

"confirmations": 101,
  "blockhash": "7ebd6c337a0f414f22d0246aa7ec7feb3742030b2ab9fdb660120b717dedaf94",
  "blockindex": 1,
  "blocktime": 1554811774,
  "txid": "5fa4ef7898eb704dbaea16634ab68302826c42198c9a5f9ff3e60622f83aac90",
  "walletconflicts": [
  ],
  "time": 1554811735,
  "timereceived": 1554811735,
  "bip125-replaceable": "no",
  "details": [
    {
    "address": "2NGSJetH6NMAMimt3MBUWe4Eb9zetevw2Tt",
    "category": "send",
    "amount": -1.00000000,

"amountblinder": "07284ca3100c24a2e3bc0483ade3a462468074b7b207375ccfb0f27846c99ea2",
"asset": "b2e15d0d7a0c94e4e2ce0fe6e8691b9e451377f6e46e8045a86f7c4b5d4f0f23",
 "assetblinder": "846663fc5318aa9ea602449c8d598c9cd43459c0056971eff44fba464d89b328",

"label": "",
    "vout": 0,
    "fee": 0.00043100,
    "abandoned": false
    },
    {
    "address": "2NGSJetH6NMAMimt3MBUWe4Eb9zetevw2Tt",
    "category": "receive",
    "amount": 1.00000000,

Liquid shows the asset being transacted along with the amount and asset blinders (when applicable).

"amountblinder": "07284ca3100c24a2e3bc0483ade3a462468074b7b207375ccfb0f27846c99ea2",
"asset": "b2e15d0d7a0c94e4e2ce0fe6e8691b9e451377f6e46e8045a86f7c4b5d4f0f23",
"assetblinder": "846663fc5318aa9ea602449c8d598c9cd43459c0056971eff44fba464d89b328",

Calling decoderawtransaction

When calling decoderawtransaction in Liquid or Bitcoin, the data returns something similar to shown below, with the differences between the data returned in Liquid highlighted.

{
  "txid": "5fa4ef7898eb704dbaea16634ab68302826c42198c9a5f9ff3e60622f83aac90",
  "hash": "6d5f1b8965db82ef37a6ec7381de4a09f0369a3ec3ac236d17384738974232b2",
  "wtxid": "6d5f1b8965db82ef37a6ec7381de4a09f0369a3ec3ac236d17384738974232b2",
  "withash": "95151cf350baf2c99c0ff36e1f4110989b1f33e0d32d8c302c95ad5ecd79e8a2",
  "version": 2,
  "size": 7525,
  "vsize": 2155,
  "weight": 8620,
  "locktime": 303,
  "vin": [
    {
      "txid": "956e34fb9ace5709183e8bed4555c5d701781735633cfa17e9c1c68fb2462ee1",
      "vout": 0,
      "scriptSig": {
      "asm": "00144e4f612e206ec2a27cd0818630bb3304526cc56a",
      "hex": "1600144e4f612e206ec2a27cd0818630bb3304526cc56a"
    },

In Liquid, the is_pegin field denotes if the transaction was a peg-in transaction .

"is_pegin": false,

"sequence": 4294967293,
  "txinwitness": [
    "304402201da54cfd...<continues>",
    "039c1a8daee141ef32399e3dab9e04bd9c4239342577e94e9e58b644c8dc58ba98"]
  }],
"vout": [
  {

The additional fields listed below are linked to the use of Confidential Transactions in Liquid.

"value-minimum": 0.00000001,
"value-maximum": 687.19476736,
"ct-exponent": 0,
"ct-bits": 36,
"valuecommitment": "0844778d24db8b3454924e3b77d2aa00b4bd57bc20cb852a65238a336b93db7ac6",
"assetcommitment": "0b96a62e05fcf65a50ad58643a603f21bb033172336c653840accbae54e9fe7dd7",
"commitmentnonce": "02acc6606bdd8c65bdaeadf1eefec726d0d3b777586922b6255c557bb8e43ac946",
"commitmentnonce_fully_valid": true,

But Bitcoin only uses the value field.

"value": 48.99996260,

  "n": 0,
  "scriptPubKey": {
  "asm": "OP_HASH160 fe635cfa8bb86040c3871d7e973e7e155583f7f9 OP_EQUAL",
  "hex": "a914fe635cfa8bb86040c3871d7e973e7e155583f7f987",
  "reqSigs": 1,
  "type": "scripthash",
  "addresses": [
    "2NGSJetH6NMAMimt3MBUWe4Eb9zetevw2Tt"
  ]
  }
},

In Liquid, the fee is explicitly stated as a vout. It is not derived from deducting the vout total from the vin total like in Bitcoin.

{
  "value": 0.00043100,
  "asset": "b2e15d0d7a0c94e4e2ce0fe6e8691b9e451377f6e46e8045a86f7c4b5d4f0f23",
  "commitmentnonce": "",
  "commitmentnonce_fully_valid": false,
  "n": 2,
  "scriptPubKey": {
  "asm": "",
  "hex": "",
  "type": "fee"
  }
}

In a peg-out transaction, Liquid introduces an additional set of fields that are included in the vout section.

"pegout_chain": "000000000019d6689c085ae165831e934ff763ae46a2a6c172b3f1b60a8ce26f",
"pegout_asm": "OP_DUP OP_HASH160 bd3432857da35ae7c93a05c911208aad0d6fa695 OP_EQUALVERIFY OP_CHECKSIG",
"pegout_hex": "76a914bd3432857da35ae7c93a05c911208aad0d6fa69588ac",
"pegout_reqSigs": 1,
"pegout_type": "pubkeyhash",
"pegout_addresses": [
  "1JFREzVxcivkeRQpngZ9ERYaoFuSP9o3vG"
]