Merkle trees vs. Verkle trees, Explained

To encrypt blockchain data more securely and effectively, Merkle trees can be used in Bitcoin (BTC), and other cryptocurrencies. Verkle trees are important for Ethereum’s future scaling upgrades because they allow for smaller proof size.

How do you identify a Merkle Tree? The three most important parts of a Merkle Tree in blockchains are the Merkle root, leaf nodes, and non-leaf nosdes. Leaf nodes contain transaction hashes and transaction IDs (TXIDs), which can be viewed using a block explorer. A layer of non-leaf Nodes is then hashed together in pairs above the leaf nodes. The hash of the leaf nodes below the non-leaf nodes is kept by the non-leaf ones.

Related: What is Blockchain technology? What is it?

The tree becomes smaller as it ascends. Half the nodes in each layer become formed when non-leaf level nodes are still hashed together in pairs. The final non-leaf layer will have two nodes. This is where the Merkle root (used for verifying the leaf nodes) is located.

To quickly identify manipulations, the Merkle root in the block’s data can be compared with the Merkle root in the header. Merkle proofs combine the Merkle root value and hashing numbers required to recover it. They also support simple payment verification (SPV), which is able to be used to authenticate transactions without the need for downloading a block or blockchain. This allows transactions to be sent and received using a light-client or crypto wallet.

Verkle trees have significantly lower proof sizes than Merkel trees for large amounts of data. Network communication is affected by the proof length. It is usually logarithmic in state size. What is a Verkleproof? A Verkle proof is evidence that there are a lot of data stored. This could be easily verified by anyone who has access to the tree’s root.


Instead of listing all Verkle tree “sister nodes”, the prover must present a single proof that demonstrates all parent-child connections along the path from each leaf node up to the root. Compared to ideal Merkle tree proof sizes, can be decreased by six and more than twenty-eight.

Jon
Opinion writer on 7trade7