Fig. 1

Allocation heuristic. An illustration of the allocation outcomes for a simple series of transactions involving a highlighted account. This account is represented by a stack for last-in-first-out allocation, and a pool for well-mixed allocation. The account receives two $100 transactions, and later sends $50 to two different accounts. The last-in-first-out heuristic uses the most recent incoming transaction to fund the outgoing transactions, creating two $50 trajectories. The well-mixed heuristic pulls evenly from both incoming transactions, creating four $25 trajectories. Empty arrows are funds that are not yet allocated to an outgoing transaction