How do refunds on SDAs work and what needs to be considered?

Last updated: June 8, 2026


Smart Deposit Addresses (SDA) refunds are currently handled manually by the rhino.fi customer support team and occur in several scenarios that require careful consideration:

When Refunds Are Needed

Refunds are required when deposits cannot be processed automatically, including:

  • The user sends funds to an SDA address on a blockchain for which the SDA was not set up.

  • The user sends a token that is not supported by the SDA.

  • The deposit amount is below or above the configured limits for that blockchain.

  • The transaction processing is blocked due to an AML alert.

Compliance Considerations:

All AML alerts are reviewed and handled on a case-by-case basis by our compliance team, most cases are identified as false-positives in which case we will complete the bridge transaction or refund to an agreed address. If the transaction was blocked due to a confirmed AML alert, a refund may not be possible and the funds may need to be frozen for a certain period of time. 

Refund Process

Refunds are processed manually by our customer support team. Refunds are typically processed within 24 hours (Monday–Friday) once a valid refund address has been confirmed. If the refund address is not yet provided, processing begins after confirmation is received. Refunds can be sent to:

  • The original sender address (only if confirmed this is an address the user has control of)

  • A predefined refund address (if specified during SDA creation)

  • A third-party address as requested

Please specify the refund address immediately when you request the refund with our customer support.

We suggest the following process:

1) For occasional refunds

A shared Slack channel will be created. Your customer support team messages the rhino.fi customer support team with the following details:

Hi team,
A user sent an unsupported token by mistake.Could you please assist with a refund?
Transaction hash: XXXX
Transaction chain: XXX
Refund address: XXX

2) For a higher volume of refunds

A process can be agreed with you. This may consist of a weekly shared spreadsheet with controls/sign-off or something similar 

Minimum Refund Amount

Rhino.fi covers gas costs for refunds. As a result, refunds are only processed for amounts above $1 in production. For Tron and Ethereum the min refund limit is $5. Deposits below this threshold (but above $0.01) trigger the UNDER_MIN webhook but may not be financially viable to refund. Lower thresholds are possible on chains with low gas fees.

Fee Treatment on Refunds

Bridge fees and gas fees only apply once a bridge transaction is executed. Refunded deposits have not triggered a bridge execution, so the full deposited amount is refunded with no fees deducted.

Which Tokens Can Be refunded?

Rhino.fi aims to refund tokens provided that they are safe to do so. Some exceptions include but are not limited to 

  • Fake tokens imitating commonly used tokens. for example, fake versons of Stablecoins) 

  • Dangerous tokens. For example, tokens which contain malicious actions, taxes or other

  • Token amounts under $1 equivalent 

  • NFT tokens 

Technical Considerations

Refunds do not happen automatically to prevent abuse and protect against sending funds to exchange hot wallets where they could be lost

Future Improvements

The team is working on bringing refund capabilities into the Rhino.fi Console so that clients can trigger refunds themselves rather than requiring manual support intervention. There are also plans to add webhook notifications for refund completion status.

Best Practices

  • Implement proper user education about supported tokens and chains

  • Set up monitoring for common refund scenarios

  • Plan for the manual refund process timeline in your user experience

  • Consider the compliance and AML implications of refund requests