TL;DR
- Verkle Trees: A new technology announced by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin that promises to improve solo staking and light client experience.
- Stateless Validator Clients: Verkle Trees enable nodes to run with minimal hard disk space and sync faster, reducing hardware requirements and enhancing user experience.
- Ethereum Roadmap: Verkle Trees are part of a five-stage development plan that Buterin unveiled in late 2022, aiming to optimize the Ethereum network after the transition to proof-of-stake.
Ethereum co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, has recently announced a significant upgrade to the Ethereum protocol – Verkle Trees. This new technology is expected to bring about a revolution in the Ethereum network, promising superior benefits for solo staking.
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, 2024
Verkle Trees form part of Ethereum’s post-merge roadmap, aiming to provide smaller proof sizes and lower hardware requirements for nodes. Buterin has expressed his anticipation for the arrival of Verkle Trees on the blockchain network, noting its functionality to allow staking nodes to run 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,” Buterin tweeted.
Buterin had earlier detailed a five-stage process that is expected to culminate in the final phase of Ethereum’s development. This plan was shared following the much-awaited activation of the Beacon Chain, marking Ethereum’s transition to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism in September 2022.
Verkle Trees: A Key Component of Vitalik Buterin’s Roadmap
Verkle Trees are a key component of Ethereum’s roadmap that Buterin unveiled in late 2022. This roadmap is encapsulated by five keywords that represent different development phases: The Merge, Surge, Verge, Purge, and Splurge, each outlining the technical specifics of various development milestones.
Under the ‘Verge’ phase, which is the third stage of Ethereum’s development plan, Verkle Trees are introduced. These trees are designed to optimize data storage and node size. The technical specifics of Verkle Trees were detailed in the Ethereum Improvement Proposal documentation that Buterin published in 2022.
Verkle Trees function similarly to Merkle Trees, which aggregate all transactions in a block and generate proof for the entire data set, allowing a user to verify its authenticity. However, Verkle Trees offer greater efficiency in proof size. They employ tree-like structures akin to Merkle Trees, but a distinguishing feature is that nodes utilize a specific type of hash known as a vector commitment, which is passed to sub-nodes.
Vector commitments are expected to offer significant, long-term advantages to the Ethereum network. The primary benefit of Verkle Trees is their potential to help Ethereum achieve statelessness, a future scenario where nodes verifying blocks would no longer need to store the “state” of Ethereum.
