# Withdrawals explained

> What EIP-4895 withdrawals are, why they're separate from transactions, and why they dominate value flow on QRL 2.0's testnet.

On QRL 2.0 you'll see a kind of value movement that doesn't exist on QRL Legacy and isn't an ordinary transaction: a **withdrawal**. Understanding it explains a lot of what shows up on a quiet Proof-of-Stake network.

## What a withdrawal is

A **[withdrawal](/learn/glossary#withdrawal)** is a validator-reward payout that the **protocol itself applies**, following the Ethereum design known as **EIP-4895**. Rather than a validator sending themselves a transaction, the protocol periodically credits validators' balances directly as part of block processing.

Withdrawals are how [validators](/learn/validators-and-staking) actually receive the rewards they earn for [proposing and attesting](/learn/proof-of-stake-on-qrl2) blocks.

## Why it isn't a transaction

A withdrawal looks like value moving, but it is fundamentally different from a [transaction](/learn/blocks-and-transactions):

| | Transaction | Withdrawal |
|---|---|---|
| Created by | A user (signed) | The protocol (automatic) |
| Signature | Required | None |
| Fee | Paid in [gas](/learn/gas-and-fees-explained) | None |
| Purpose | Move value / run a contract | Pay validator rewards |

Because it has no sender and no fee, a withdrawal doesn't fit the transaction model — so Quantascan indexes withdrawals as their **own layer**, separate from transactions, each tied to a block and a validator.

## Why they dominate a testnet

On a busy network, user transactions vastly outnumber withdrawals. But QRL 2.0 currently runs as a **test network** with sparse activity — few people are transacting. Validators, however, are rewarded **continuously**. The result is that withdrawals can be the **dominant flow of value** on the chain.

This is why supply and value-flow views on this explorer treat withdrawals as a first-class source of new value on QRL 2.0, rather than an afterthought. It also matters for [tokenomics](/learn/qrl-tokenomics-and-supply): on QRL 2.0, issuance shows up through staking rewards and withdrawals, not through mining.

## Seeing them on the explorer

The [rewards page](/rewards) lists validator-reward withdrawals, and each validator's detail view ties its received withdrawals into its totals. If a validator's balance grew without any incoming transaction, a withdrawal is usually why.

## Where to go next

- [Validators and staking](/learn/validators-and-staking) — who earns these rewards.
- [QRL tokenomics and supply](/learn/qrl-tokenomics-and-supply) — how issuance works across both chains.
- [Slots, epochs and the beacon chain](/learn/slots-epochs-beacon-chain) — the consensus timing behind rewards.