Ethereum solo stakers and network nodes stand to benefit from the implementation of Verkle trees, according to Vitalik Buterin.
In an X post, the co-founder of Ethereum lauded the advantages of the technological advancement of the Ethereum protocol. It is expected that Verkle trees will facilitate “stateless validator clients,” according to Buterin, who also mentioned that they enable staking nodes to operate with “near-zero hard disk space and sync nearly instantly.”
I'm really looking forward to Verkle trees. They will enable stateless validator clients, which can allow staking nodes to run with near-zero hard disk space and sync nearly instantly – far better solo staking UX. Also good for user-facing light clients.https://t.co/Bg2KXH07Id
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) February 18, 2024Buterin has previously delineated a phased, five-step progression that will culminate in the smart contract blockchain reaching what he termed the pinnacle of Ethereum’s advancement.
This occurred after the eagerly awaited implementation of the Beacon Chain, which facilitated Ethereum’s transition to proof-of-stake consensus in September 2022.
Buterin disclosed the roadmap, which includes Verkle trees, in late 2022. Five keywords encapsulated the periods of ongoing development. Merge, Splurge, Surge, Verge, and Purge delineate the technical intricacies associated with distinct stages of development.
Looks like @FixedFloat just got exploited for 1700 ETH!
Drainer address: 0x85c4fF99bF0eCb24e02921b0D4b5d336523Fa085
Info by: @reprove pic.twitter.com/XHnHy3CFSs
— Officer's Notes (@officer_cia) February 18, 2024Under the Verge framework, the third phase of Ethereum’s development strategy, Verkle trees are situated. During this phase, incorporate Verkle trees, which optimize data storage and node size. Buterin detailed the technical aspects of Verkle trees in the 2022 documentation for its Ethereum Improvement Proposal.
Verkle trees perform a comparable role to Merkle trees, in that they aggregate all transactions within a block and generate evidence of the complete dataset for a user seeking to validate its credibility:
“The key property that Verkle Trees provide, however, is that they are much more efficient in proof size.”
Verkle trees and Merkle trees both employ tree-like structures; however, a significant distinction lies in utilizing a vector commitment by nodes, a specific form of hash transmitted to sub-nodes. Vector commitments will provide the Ethereum network with substantial, long-term benefits.
The primary advantage of Verkle trees is that they facilitate statelessness on Ethereum, which would occur when nodes verifying blocks would no longer be required to store the state of the blockchain.
Merkle trees enable the encapsulation of smaller proof sizes within individual blocks of the Ethereum blockchain. Nodes are subsequently able to authenticate any block by utilizing the data that is contained within the block.
The implementation of Verkle trees is anticipated to yield a variety of novel functionalities, such as reduced hardware demands for Ethereum node operation, which is projected to enhance the decentralized nature of the network. With the capability to rapidly synchronize with the network, new nodes may also join the network virtually instantly.
Verkle tree development is ongoing, and the Ethereum protocol will necessitate the implementation of a number of modifications. This includes a new gas accounting model, a new data structure for storing the network’s state, a method for migrating Ethereum’s state from Merkle to Verkle trees, new cryptography primitives, and new block-level fields.
