Compressible blockchains
A node in a blockchain network may invoke a process comprising receiving one or more operations for inclusion in a block, receiving a previous Merkle root created from previously determined account dispositions from a previous block, resolving the one or more operations based on the previous account dispositions to determine one or more current account dispositions, creating a current Merkle root for the one or more current account dispositions, and hashing current data for the current block, the data comprising the current Merkel root and the previous Merkle root to generate an account disposition block.
1 . A system in a blockchain network comprising:
a memory; and
a processor in communication with the memory, the processor being configured to perform processes comprising:
receiving one or more operations for inclusion in a block, wherein the one or more operations were included in a group of committed blocks on the blockchain network that are selected to be compressed;
receiving a previous Merkle root created from previously determined account balances from a previous block, wherein the previous block immediately precedes the group of committed blocks;
resolving the one or more operations based on the previous account balances to determine one or more current account balances after the group of committed blocks;
creating a current Merkle root for the one or more current account balances, wherein the current Merkle root is a hash of each account number and each account balance on the blockchain network;
hashing unspent outputs and the account balances after the group of committed blocks to generate a compression block, compression block data comprising Merkle root for the one or more current account balances and the previous Merkle root summarizing one or more current account balances resulting from the operations in the group of committed blocks; and
replacing the group of committed blocks in a ledger for the blockchain network with the compression block, wherein there are one or more non-compression blocks in the blockchain network before the group.
2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the compression block data further includes unspent operation outputs from the group of blocks.
3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the current data further includes a timestamp and one or more operations.
4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the current Merkle root for the one or more current account balances is performed with the current account balances ordered by natural ordering.
5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the hashing is performed using secure hash algorithm (SHA)-256.
6 . A method comprising:
receiving one or more operations for inclusion in a block in a blockchain network, wherein the one or more operations were included in a group of committed blocks on the blockchain network that are selected to be compressed;
receiving a previous Merkle root created from previously determined account balances from a previous block, wherein the previous block immediately precedes the group of committed blocks;
resolving the one or more operations based on the previous account balances to determine one or more current account balances after the group of committed blocks;
creating a current Merkle root for the one or more current account balances, wherein the current Merkle root is a hash of each account number and each account balance on the blockchain network;
hashing unspent outputs and the account balances after the group of committed blocks to generate a compression block, compression block data comprising Merkle root for the one or more current account balances and the previous Merkle root summarizing one or more current account balances resulting from the operations in the group of committed blocks; and
replacing the group of committed blocks in a ledger for the blockchain network with the compression block, wherein there are one or more non-compression blocks in the blockchain network before the group.
7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the compression block data further includes unspent operation outputs from the group of blocks.
8 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the current data further includes a timestamp and one or more operations.
9 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the current Merkle root for the one or more current account balances is performed with the current account balances ordered by natural ordering.
10 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the hashing is performed using SHA256.
11 . A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a processor to cause the processor to perform a method, the method comprising:
receiving one or more operations for inclusion in a block of a blockchain network, wherein the one or more operations were included in a group of committed blocks on the blockchain network that are selected to be compressed;
receiving a previous Merkle root created from previously determined account balances from a previous block, wherein the previous block immediately precedes the group of committed blocks;
resolving the one or more operations based on the previous account balances to determine one or more current account balances after the group of committed blocks;
creating a current Merkle root for the one or more current account balances, wherein the current Merkle root is a hash of each account number and each account balance on the blockchain network;
hashing unspent outputs and the account balances after the group of committed blocks to generate a compression block, compression block data comprising Merkle root for the one or more current balances and the previous Merkle root summarizing one or more current account balances resulting from the operations in the group of committed blocks; and
replacing the group of committed blocks in a ledger for the blockchain network with the compression block, wherein there are one or more non-compression blocks in the blockchain network before the group.
12 . The computer program product of claim 11 , wherein the compression block data further includes unspent operation outputs from the group of blocks.
13 . The computer program product of claim 11 , wherein the current data further includes a timestamp and one or more operations.
14 . The computer program product of claim 11 , wherein the current Merkle root for the one or more current account balances is performed with the current account balances ordered by natural ordering.