I've been meaning to talk about this for a while, and finally had some time to write it up today.
To prove that a transaction is in a particular block, you only need a small number of hashes along the path from that transaction to the Merkle root. The number grows logarithmically with the number of transactions.
Proof of reserves at exchanges also uses Merkle trees: the platform publishes the root hash, and each user can verify whether their balance has been included by checking their own Merkle path.
Every block header for block $BTC records a Merkle root that summarizes all the transactions in that block.
Had anyone misunderstood this before?
#BTC
How you choose to act is up to you; this is just a record.
To prove that a transaction is in a particular block, you only need a small number of hashes along the path from that transaction to the Merkle root. The number grows logarithmically with the number of transactions.
Proof of reserves at exchanges also uses Merkle trees: the platform publishes the root hash, and each user can verify whether their balance has been included by checking their own Merkle path.
Every block header for block $BTC records a Merkle root that summarizes all the transactions in that block.
Had anyone misunderstood this before?
#BTC
How you choose to act is up to you; this is just a record.