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An EthereumTransaction lets you execute a raw, RLP-encoded (type 0, 1, or 2) Ethereum transaction on the Hedera network. This enables developers familiar with EVM tooling to leverage their existing knowledge and infrastructure when interacting with the Hedera Smart Contract Service (HSCS).

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Important

Hedera interprets HBAR decimals differently depending on the context:
  • The lowest denomination of HBAR when used within a the value field in the EthereumTransaction is weibars meaning with 18 decimals
  • The lowest denomination of hbar when used within data or the Hedera EVM is tinybars meaning with 8 decimals.
  • Gas Price information is in weibars denomination.

    Reference: HIP-410
FieldDescription
Ethereum DataAn RLP-encoded (type 0, 1, or 2) Ethereum transaction to execute on the Hedera network. This enables developers to leverage existing EVM tooling and workflows with the Hedera Smart Contract Service (HSCS).
Call Data File IDAn optional field referencing a file on the Hedera File Service (HFS) containing the callData. When set, the network ignores the callData in ethereumData during execution and instead loads the data from the referenced file. However, the full callData must still be present in the originally signed ethereumData for signature validation. In this case, ethereumData will contain a placeholder where callData normally resides, and the transaction must be “rehydrated” with the HFS content during validation.

Note: With HIP-1086, jumbo ethereumData is the preferred approach for large payloads, but callDataFileId remains supported for oversized payloads or legacy workflows.
Max Allowance

The maximum amount of HBAR (specified in tinybars) the payer is willing to cover for the gas consumed during transaction execution. This value acts as a ceiling if the actual gas cost (determined by gasLimit in the RLP-encoded transaction and the network’s gas price) exceeds this amount, the transaction fails.

Ordinarily, the account with the ECDSA alias extracted from the ethereumData signature covers the execution fees. If insufficient fees are authorized by that account, the payer can be charged up to but not exceeding maxGasAllowance. If the authorized fee is zero, the payer is charged the full amount.

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Handling Large callData Payloads

HIP-1086 introduced support for jumbo Ethereum transactions, allowing ethereumData to directly include callData up to 24KB for contract creation and 128KB for contract calls. This removes the need to use callDataFileId for many large payloads. The rest of the protobuf wrapper (signatures, node account ID, etc.) must still fit within 2KB.

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Gas Calculation for callData

The gas cost for the callData in jumbo EthereumTransaction is calculated as: 
callData gas = 4 × zero bytes + 16 × non-zero bytes
This is added to base gas and execution gas. Developers must ensure both gasLimit (in the RLP-encoded transaction) and maxGasAllowance (in the wrapper) are set high enough. 📣 For detailed gas and fee calculation, refer to the Gas and Fees page.

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Quick reference: Jumbo vs Standard Transactions

FeatureJumbo Ethereum TransactionStandard Ethereum Transaction
callData Size Limit24KB (creation) / 128KB (call)~6KB total transaction size
callDataFileId Needed?Only if limits exceededAlways for large payloads
Gas CalculationAlways for large payloadsSame
Batch InclusionNot supportedSupported
Network ThrottlingDedicated throttle bucketStandard throttling
📣 See HIP-1086 and the Gas and Fees page for complete technical details.

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Transaction Signing Requirements

The transaction must be signed by the key of the fee-paying account. For EthereumTransaction, this is:
  • The account with the ECDSA alias derived from the public key in ethereumData, if sufficient gas and fees are authorized.
  • If the authorized fee from the Ethereum sender is insufficient, the payer of the transaction is charged up to the maxGasAllowance.
  • For jumbo transactions, ensure the payer’s key is included and maxGasAllowance is set high enough to cover potential gas and fees.

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Transaction Fees

The total transaction cost includes:
  • Base transaction fee
  • Gas for callData, (calculated as: 4 × zero bytes + 16 × non-zero bytes)
  • Execution gas determined by EVM smart contract logic
📣 See the transaction and query fees table and the smart contracts gas and fees page for details.
MethodType
setEthereumData(<ethereumData>)byte []
setCallDataFileId(<fileId>)FileID
setMaxGasAllowanceHbar(<maxGasAllowanceHbar>)Hbar
//Create the transaction
EthereumTransaction transaction = new EthereumTransaction()
     .setEthereumData(ethereumData)
     .setMaxGasAllowanceHbar(allowance);

//Sign with the client operator private key to pay for the transaction and submit the query to a Hedera network
TransactionResponse txResponse = transaction.execute(client);

//Request the receipt of the transaction
TransactionReceipt receipt = txResponse.getReceipt(client);

//Get the transaction consensus status
Status transactionStatus = receipt.status;

System.out.println("The transaction consensus status is " +transactionStatus);

//v2.14