Ethereum: Understanding Where Transactions Are Stored During Confirmation
When a Bitcoin client initiates a transaction and sends it to its connecting full nodes, the transaction undergoes a series of checks to ensure its legitimacy and validity. One of these checks involves verifying that the transaction has been confirmed on all participating nodes before it can be considered “confirmed” or “acknowledged.” But where exactly is this confirmation stored? In this article, we’ll delve into the world of Ethereum and explore how transactions are stored during the confirmation process.
The Ethereum Network Architecture
Ethereum’s network architecture consists of a decentralized peer-to-peer (P2P) protocol that enables nodes to communicate with each other. This P2P network is comprised of multiple types of nodes, including:
- Full Nodes: These are full-fledged nodes that store the entire Ethereum blockchain, including all past transactions and data.
- Light-Weight Nodes: These nodes only maintain a small portion of the blockchain, typically for specific purposes like mining or interacting with third-party applications (dApps).
- Infura Nodes
: Infura is an on-demand full node service that allows developers to access Ethereum’s blockchain in real-time.
Confirmation Process
When a Bitcoin client initiates a transaction and sends it to its connecting full nodes, the following steps occur:
- Transaction Hashing: The Bitcoin client generates a hash for the transaction, which serves as a unique identifier.
- Transaction Verification: The Bitcoin client verifies that the sender has sufficient balance of coins (currently 6 BTC) to cover the cost of the transaction.
- Transaction Broadcast: The Bitcoin client broadcasts the transaction to all participating nodes in the network.
Where are transactions stored during confirmation?
Now, let’s address your question: where exactly are transactions stored during the confirmation process?
On Ethereum, transactions are stored on a network of full nodes that maintain a copy of the blockchain. Specifically:
- Full Nodes: When a Bitcoin client initiates a transaction and sends it to its connecting full nodes, the transaction is stored on the node’s local blockchain.
- Blockchain State: The full nodes also have an internal state that represents their current understanding of the Ethereum blockchain. This state includes all past transactions, balances, and data.
During the confirmation process, these nodes verify each other’s nodes using a mechanism called “chain validation.” When two or more nodes agree on the state of the chain, they can be considered “merged” into a single, updated chain representation.
Key Insight
The key insight here is that Ethereum’s network architecture allows for decentralized storage and validation. While full nodes store their local blockchain copies of transactions during confirmation, the entire blockchain state is also distributed across the network via the
Ethereum State Channels (ESCs).
Ethereum State Channels (ESCs)
ESCs are a mechanism that enables multiple Ethereum nodes to agree on the same data without having to store it in their own local state. Instead, ESCs allow nodes to update their internal state by sending updates to other nodes through a network of escrow agents. This approach ensures that any changes made to the blockchain can be replicated across the network.
In summary, when a Bitcoin client initiates a transaction and sends it to its connecting full nodes on Ethereum’s network architecture, the transactions are stored on full nodes during the confirmation process. However, due to decentralized storage and validation mechanisms like ESCs, the entire blockchain state is also distributed across the network, ensuring that any changes made can be replicated efficiently.
