EnglishEnglish中文中文اَلْعَرَبِيَّةُاَلْعَرَبِيَّةُDeutschDeutschEspañolEspañolΕλληνικάΕλληνικάFrançaisFrançaisעִבְרִיתעִבְרִיתहिन्दीहिन्दीHrvatskiHrvatskiItalianoItaliano日本語日本語한국어한국어MalayMalayNederlandsNederlandsPortuguêsPortuguêsрусскийрусскийภาษาไทยภาษาไทยTürkTürkTiếng ViệtTiếng Việt粵語粵語
Learn
FAQs
Frequently asked questions by various stakeholders
Why Classic?
Start here to get the lowdown on Ethereum Classic's reason for being and unique value proposition
Knowledge
Further reading on the foundations that underpin ETC
Videos
A collection of videos and podcasts to keep you informed on ETC concepts and happenings
Support ETC by helping to translate this website!
Ethereum Classic Blog

The Ethereum Classic Blockchain Is INCOMPLETE & Why That Is OK

Christian Seberino
Apps, Development, Education

1TCmOW4bfexB2Ns21MBDDCw

The Ethereum Classic (ETC) blockchain does not contain all the necessary state information for the ETC system to operate. It does not even implicitly contain all that is needed! I will elaborate and discuss how this is handled.

State

1ZHk1y55a8LIXrBXyPQh6sw

The state of the ETC system includes all the balances, programs, nonces and other values in memory. This data is organized into accounts. Therefore, the state is the set of all account values.

Blocks contain transactions which specify changes to states. If the state is known for any time, the state can be determined for all future times by analyzing the transactions in the following blocks. However, the blockchain does not completely specify the state for any time! Admittedly, all blocks contain state hashes. But, these hashes are irreversible!

The initial state for the first block contains accounts with nonzero balances. In other words, all funds did not originate from mining. Do you wonder how miners know the account balances when processing account transfers involving these initially funded accounts? The answer involves the ETC node databases.

Database

1doVsSfjjDVsy5Sy9M7m2Xg

ETC nodes typically contain databases that store the blockchain as well as additional information. For example, Linux Parity ETC node databases typically use the following directory:

$HOME/.local/share/io.parity.ethereum/chains/classic/db

Linux Geth ETC node databases typically use this directory:

$HOME/.ethereum-classic/mainnet/chaindata

For performance reasons, Parity and Geth use nonrelational (NoSQL) key value databases. These databases can be accessed directly. They can also be accessed using the Web 3 library.

Solution

1gGGUr4Xhyzo6Amcmzqc4ww

All ETC nodes must contain a complete specification of the initial state for the first block. This is required in addition to the blockchain. For example, on Geth ETC nodes, this initial state is in the database and can be viewed with the following command:

geth dump 0

Conclusion

1mfEpuxoLMi8OZwFXK7kYQw

ETC nodes require a complete specification of the initial state for the first block as well as the blockchain. ETC nodes typically store this information in databases. Only with both of these pieces of information can the ETC system operate.

Feedback

You can contact me by clicking any of these icons:

0eoFC6QOWZ  bCngK

0i3CwTFEKUnKYHMf0

0HQj6HSHxE7pkIBjk

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank IOHK (Input Output Hong Kong) for funding this effort.

License

0hocpUZXBcjzNJeQ2

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

This page exists thanks in part to the following contributors:


cseberino
cseberino
  • EnglishEnglish
  • 中文中文
  • اَلْعَرَبِيَّةُاَلْعَرَبِيَّةُ
  • DeutschDeutsch
  • EspañolEspañol
  • ΕλληνικάΕλληνικά
  • FrançaisFrançais
  • עִבְרִיתעִבְרִית
  • हिन्दीहिन्दी
  • HrvatskiHrvatski
  • ItalianoItaliano
  • 日本語日本語
  • 한국어한국어
  • MalayMalay
  • NederlandsNederlands
  • PortuguêsPortuguês
  • русскийрусский
  • ภาษาไทยภาษาไทย
  • TürkTürk
  • Tiếng ViệtTiếng Việt
  • 粵語粵語
Add ETC to MetaMask
The ETC community is active on Discord
Discord
Discord
ETC Coop Discord
ETC Coop Discord
eth_classic Twitter
eth_classic Twitter
ETC_Network Twitter
ETC_Network Twitter
Github
Github
ETC Labs Github
ETC Labs Github
Reddit
Reddit
This site is powered by Netlify

Learn

  • FAQs
  • Why Classic?
  • Knowledge
  • Videos

Made with <3 for the Original Ethereum Vision