State

Abstract

...age that can be used to create "contracts" that can be used to encode arbitrary state transition functions, allowing users to create any of the systems described abo...

Introduction and Existing Concepts

...nodes in the network to collectively agree on a set of canonical updates to the state of the Bitcoin ledger. Second, it provided a mechanism for allowing free entry ...

Bitcoin As A State Transition System

...andpoint, the ledger of a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin can be thought of as a state transition system, where there is a "state" consisting of the ownership status ...

Mining

...ctly as described, using a centralized server's hard drive to keep track of the state. However, with Bitcoin we are trying to build a decentralized currency system, ...

Merkle Trees

...um's design, where Merkle trees are used not only for transactions but also for state and receipt storage, enabling even more sophisticated light client protocols.

Alternative Blockchain Applications

...coin scripting language is intentionally restricted—it cannot access blockchain state, lacks loops and complex control flow, and provides limited introspection into ...

Scripting

...ategories. First, the lack of Turing-completeness prevents implementing complex state machines, decision trees, or any algorithm requiring iteration. Second, value-b...

Ethereum

...ey can create their own arbitrary rules for ownership, transaction formats, and state transition functions. Rather than designing a protocol for specific application...

Ethereum Accounts

In Ethereum, the state is made up of accounts, and there are two fundamental types. Externally owned a...

Messages and Transactions

...ansaction consumes gas. If a transaction runs out of gas before completing, all state changes are reverted (except the gas payment to the miner), preventing infinite...

Ethereum State Transition Function

The Ethereum state transition function APPLY(S,TX) -> S' defines how a transaction transforms the ...

Code Execution

...rately simple and deterministic: every node running the EVM with the same input state and transaction must arrive at the same output state, ensuring consensus across...

Blockchain and Mining

...transaction list, Ethereum stores both the transaction list and the most recent state. Each block in Ethereum contains the previous block's hash, a state root (the r...

Miscellanea And Concerns

...ficant concern, as every full node must process every transaction to verify the state. Current blockchain architectures struggle to match centralized systems' transa...

Conclusion

...onal infrastructure that makes building them easy. The concept of an arbitrary state transition function as implemented by the Ethereum protocol provides a platform...

References and Further Reading

...Merkle trees for efficient data verification, and Patricia tries for Ethereum's state representation. The GHOST (Greedy Heaviest Observed Subtree) protocol, describe...

Introduction

...ortionate influence by creating many identities) and consensus (agreeing on the state of the ledger). By tying both concerns to computational expenditure, proof-of-w...

Definition of Consensus

...**Ledger.** The ledger is the complete record of all account balances and other state in the Ripple network. The ledger is organized as a set of account objects, eac...

Ripple Protocol Consensus Algorithm

...tions in the final set to the last-closed ledger, computes the resulting ledger state, and cryptographically hashes the new ledger. This hash is signed by the server...

Abstract

...thm, PoH can reduce messaging overhead in a Byzantine Fault Tolerant replicated state machine, resulting in sub-second finality times. The key innovation is the con...

Introduction

Blockchains are an implementation of fault tolerant replicated state machines. Currently available public blockchains do not rely on time, or make a...

Outline

...tion, a mechanism for validators to prove they are storing a copy of the ledger state. This component addresses data availability — the requirement that enough copie...

Network Design

... validator can independently compute the same leader schedule from the same PoH state, the rotation is globally consistent without requiring any coordination message...

Proof of History

...l computer in the time it takes to evaluate the hash function from the starting state to the recorded sample. The construction is straightforward. Starting from som...

Proof of History Sequence

... inserted at the same PoH index by hashing them together before mixing into the state. For example, if transactions `Tx_1` and `Tx_2` arrive simultaneously, the gene...

Proof of Stake Consensus

...rom a recent snapshot of the stake distribution and a seed derived from the PoH state. This computation is performed independently by every validator, and because bo...

Streaming Proof of Replication

...a exist across the network so that any participant can reconstruct the complete state. In many blockchain designs, there is no verifiable mechanism to ensure that va...

System Architecture

...e Banking stage is where transactions are actually executed against the current state of the ledger. This stage uses Sealevel, Solana's parallel smart contract runti...

Performance

...can be executed in parallel. For smart contract interactions that access shared state, parallelism is reduced and execution becomes the bottleneck. The Sealevel runt...

Design Principles

...TRE membership requires issuers to be licensed financial institutions -- either state-licensed money transmitters, federally chartered banks, or trust companies oper...

Compliance Framework

...ate. In the United States, this means obtaining money transmitter licenses on a state-by-state basis (a process that requires demonstrating financial soundness, comp...

Background

...ies. It demonstrated that a peer-to-peer network could achieve consensus on the state of a shared ledger without requiring a trusted central authority. Bitcoin's pro...

Technical Specifications

... coin ownership without requiring account balances to be maintained in a global state. Transaction scripts use the same scripting language as Bitcoin, supporting sta...

Conclusion

...netary policy will asymptotically approach — but never reach — a zero-inflation state, providing a balanced approach between the extremes of fixed supply and unconst...

Transaction Throughput and Scalability

... large blocks efficiently. By leveraging modern multi-core processors and solid-state storage, optimized node implementations can validate blocks containing tens of ...

Smart Contract Capabilities

...ed by smart contract scripts. This creates a mechanism for maintaining on-chain state across multiple transactions, a capability that was previously difficult to ach...