Author: Andy Parkins 2013-07-23 10:00:24
Published on: 2013-07-23T10:00:24+00:00
In the discussion, Andy Parkins suggests adding a new URL `GET /rest/block-with-tx/TX-HASH` to trace the providence of any transaction without needing to maintain the entire chain. Peter Todd points out that the REST API is not meant for SPV clients and increasing resource usage by SPV clients on full nodes is undesirable. However, Andy argues that making it easier to store a partial blockchain would result in lower demand on full nodes. He suggests that if everyone with a wallet were to run a client that has only fetched blocks that contain transactions needed to verify their balances, right back to the genesis block, it would reduce the load on the full nodes massively. Peter Todd points out that UTXO data requires one to have full trust in whomever is providing it, and that situation will continue until UTXO commitments are implemented. However, Andy counters that since one can go and ask someone else the same question, it's pretty easy to check if they're being lied to. He also suggests that it's far easier to maintain a headers-only block chain. When one fetches their relevant block subset, they can easily see that they are real blocks in their headers-only blockchain, making it almost impossible to lie when asked for the block containing transaction X.
Updated on: 2023-06-07T14:18:25.438790+00:00