Blockchain technology needs Merkle tree, but how do they function?
The world of blockchain and cryptocurrency is enormous and complicated. This mechanism is composed of several cogs, including a Merkle tree. Merkle trees are essential to the operation of blockchains, but what precisely do they do? What is a Merkle tree, how does it function, and why is it so crucial to blockchain technology?
How Does a Blockchain Work?
It’s critical to comprehend how blockchains operate before diving into the Merkle tree’s dynamics.
A blockchain is essentially a network of digital blocks, each of which has its own set of data. Each block encrypts data and protects it from hostile actors using cryptography, more especially hashing.
The industry that deals in cryptocurrencies is where blockchains are most often employed, and there, each and every transaction made with a particular asset is recorded on that commodity’s original blockchain. A blockchain explorer, for example, may be used to examine the full blockchain, which also shows each transaction’s chronological recording.
In a blockchain, transactions cannot be changed or removed. Data is instead encoded using mathematical methods through a process called hashing. These methods can change any character length into a predetermined, encoded length.
Merkle trees are essential for storing transactions on a blockchain. How does a Merkle tree operate, though?
What Is a Merkle Tree?
- Merkle tree has two historical roots. The term “Merkle” refers to Ralph Merkle, an American mathematician and computer scientist who made significant contributions to public-key cryptography. In his 1987 work “A Digital Signature Based on a Conventional Encryption Function,” Merkle first suggested binary hash trees. The Merkle tree uses cryptographic hashing, which Merkle also developed.
- The structure of the “Merkle tree” leads to the second component. A data structure that resembles a tree is called a Merkle tree (also known as a binary hash tree). Merkle trees have “leaves” and “branches,” and each “leaf” or “branch” has the hash of a particular data block.
- An efficient way to store transactional hashes on a blockchain is via a Merkle tree. It consolidates all of the transactions into a single block and effectively hashes them for quicker and safer storage. By one last hash, a Merkle tree may be used to swiftly evaluate the accuracy of the data. This keeps security integrity intact while also streamlining the data storage procedure.
- Merkle trees don’t need a lot of processing power either. In fact, they reduced the amount of data storage needed by combining many transaction hashes into a single one. Given that blockchain networks may be a significant consumer of power and storage space, the efficient use of resources has long been a cause of debate in the cryptocurrency sector. Thus, utilising Merkle trees aids in reducing this problem. Blockchain systems may save money by employing Merkle trees to reduce the quantity of data because on-chain data storage is also expensive.
- Also, the Merkle tree procedure is quick, which is excellent news for efficiency. As many blockchains (including Bitcoin) have a reputation for having lengthy transaction times, any method that might reduce this problem is advantageous.
- Nevertheless, Merkle trees are most well-known for their application in bitcoin blockchains. Merkle trees are employed in many computer fields, including cryptography and encryption. The Merkle tree is unquestionably a crucial component because it’s used by Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, and all other cryptocurrencies.
How Does a Merkle Tree Work?
A Merkle tree’s functional diagram is shown below. Note that this graphic simplifies the process so you can get a sense of the stages required; in reality, there would be far more transactions and hashes per tree.
- Things appear to be a little complicated when viewed in this Merkle tree diagram. Yet when broken down, Merkle tree hashing is actually fairly simple.
- In order to create a Merkle tree, there are a few stages. The Merkle tree’s intermediate hashes are referred regarded as branches, while the hashes at its base are known as leaves. The branches are also known as non-leaf nodes at times. You can see the data blocks (or transactions) that make up the hash at the very bottom of the figure.
- Each node’s initial transactions are hashed in pairs, with one remaining hash being the result. Next, pair after pair is continuously hashed into one until only one hash remains, marking the conclusion of the operation. One transaction will be copied if a block has an odd number of transactions so that it may be linked with the original for hashing.
- While it appears at the top of the aforementioned figure, the final hash is referred to as the “root” of the tree (the root hash). The root is simply the hash that represents all of the various transaction hashes that are contained within a block. Each block must have one Merkle tree, which means that each block must have one Merkle Root data field.
- The Merkle Root and Merkle Hash are terms you may be familiar with if you have ever done extensive research on blockchains. There is a thing called a hashMerkleRoot inside a block. The block header of a particular block stores this information (the last hash at the end of the tree). Moreover, a blockchain block stores other information including a timestamp, asset version number, and the “nonce” (number only used once).
Can Blockchains Function Without Merkle Trees?
Merkle trees are not necessarily necessary for a blockchain to exist, but they are crucial for data security.
Cryptocurrency blockchains need more time and resources to complete crucial operations without Merkle trees. The first requirement would be that each node in the network maintain a copy of each transaction made on the blockchain. It is possible for larger blockchains to process hundreds of thousands of transactions in a single day, thus adding this amount of data to each node’s copy will surely use a lot of resources.
Merkle trees also have a significant impact on data validation. Validators and miners can determine if the block is legitimate by looking at the single root hash at the end of the tree.
Merkle Trees Are Key in Blockchain Functionality
Merkle trees provide blockchains with security and efficiency without taking up a lot of space, there is no doubting that. Blockchains may run smoothly without using a lot of resources thanks to this clever cryptography mechanism. Merkle trees are extremely helpful in terms of time, storage, and data authentication but are not absolutely necessary.
For more informative content visit