Transactions

transfer

Transfer TAO from the coldkey to a destination address.

Sends free balance from the signing coldkey to the destination. On-chain transfers are irreversible — funds sent to a wrong address cannot be recovered, so double-check the destination. A transaction fee is deducted from the sender on top of the amount, and the call fails if the free balance cannot cover both. Pass all to sweep the entire transferable balance. With keep_alive (the default) the transfer refuses to drop the sender below the existential deposit; disable it only when intentionally emptying the account.

Signer	Origin	Pallet	Wraps
`coldkey`	signed account (pallet role may apply)	Balances	`Balances.transfer_keep_alive`, `Balances.transfer_allow_death`, `Balances.transfer_all`

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`dest_ss58`	string	yes	Account the funds are sent to.
`amount_tao`	number \| `"all"`	yes	How much to send.
`keep_alive`	boolean	no	Refuse to drop the sender below the existential deposit. Disable it only when you intend to empty the account, which lets the chain reap it.

Address parameters (--hotkey, --coldkey, --dest, ...) accept a raw ss58 address, an address-book or proxy-book name, or a local wallet/hotkey name.

CLI

Preview with --dry-run (shows fee, effects, and policy result without submitting), then submit:

btcli tx transfer \
  --dest <ss58|name> \
  --amount-tao <amount|all> --dry-run
btcli tx transfer \
  --dest <ss58|name> \
  --amount-tao <amount|all> -w my_coldkey

Python

import bittensor as bt
from bittensor.wallet import Wallet

wallet = Wallet(name="my_coldkey", hotkey="my_hotkey")
intent = bt.Transfer(dest_ss58="5F...", amount_tao=1.0)

sub = bt.Subtensor()
plan = sub.plan(intent, wallet)   # fee, effects, policy — no submission
result = sub.execute(intent, wallet)
if not result.success:
    print(result.error.code, result.error.remediation)

(bt.Subtensor is also the async client — async with bt.Subtensor() as client: — see The client.) Or build the intent by op name, as an agent would:

result = sub.execute_tool("transfer", {...}, wallet)

On-chain implementation

Balances.transfer_keep_alive is implemented by Substrate's pallet_balances, outside this repository's pallets.

Balances.transfer_allow_death is implemented by Substrate's pallet_balances, outside this repository's pallets.

Balances.transfer_all is implemented by Substrate's pallet_balances, outside this repository's pallets.

Every file is browsable under /code exactly as built into the runtime, or as plain text under /code/raw/<path> (index: /code/index.json).