Can you explain how Merkle trees are used in verifying the authenticity of cryptocurrency transactions?

1 answers

• Dec 16, 2021 · 3 years ago
  Ah, Merkle trees! They're like the building blocks of trust in the world of cryptocurrencies. When it comes to verifying the authenticity of transactions, Merkle trees are the go-to tool. They work by creating a hierarchical structure of transaction hashes, with the final hash, known as the Merkle root, serving as the proof of authenticity. Each leaf node of the tree represents a transaction, and the intermediate nodes are calculated by hashing the concatenation of their child nodes. This process continues until we reach the Merkle root. By including the Merkle root in the block header, along with other essential information, we can ensure that the transactions within the block have not been tampered with. It's like a digital seal of approval that guarantees the integrity of cryptocurrency transactions. Pretty neat, huh?
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