Subject: [Bitcoin-development] Ultimate Blockchain Compression w/ trust-free lite nodes

From: Alan Reiner <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 17 Jun 2012 14:39:28 -0400

All,

With the flurry of discussion about blockchain compression, I thought it 
was time to put forward my final, most-advanced idea, into a single, 
well-thought-out, *illustrated*, forum post.     Please check it out: 
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=88208.0

This is a huge undertaking, but it has some pretty huge benefits.  And 
it's actually feasible because it can be implemented without disrupting 
the main network.  I'm sure there's lots of issues with it, but I'm 
putting it out there to see how it might be improved and actually executed.

----
*Summary:

*/Use a special tree data structure to organize all unspent-TxOuts on 
the network, and use the root of this tree to communicate its 
"signature" between nodes.  The leaves of this tree actually correspond 
to addresses/scripts, and the data at the leaf is actually a root of the 
unspent-TxOut list for that address/script.  To maintain security of the 
tree signatures, it will be included in the header of an alternate 
blockchain, which will be secured by merged mining.

This provides the same compression as the simpler unspent-TxOut merkle 
tree, but also gives nodes a way to download just the unspent-TxOut list 
for each address in their wallet, and verify that list directly against 
the blockheaders.  Therefore, even lightweight nodes can get full 
address information, from any untrusted peer, and with only a tiny 
amount of downloaded data (a few kB). /*
*----

Alright, tear it up!
-Alan