Merkle Tree in Blockchain: A Detailed Explanation
A Merkle tree is generally a data structure and we can see the application of Merkle Tree in computational usages, bitcoin, and other cryptocurrencies. It can help in the process of encoding the blockchain data to be more efficient and safer for the network. In this article, What is Merkle Tree in Blockchain, its components, benefits, and applications will be explained.
What is the Merkle Tree in Blockchain?
Merkle tree is a hash tree in which each leaf node contains the hash value of a data block, and every non-leaf node has the hash value for its child nodes.
Merkle tree is a hash tree. It is generally a tree like structure in which each leaf node of the tree contains the hash value of a data block, and every non-leaf node has the hash value for its child nodes. Moreover, it is a fundamental data structure used in blockchain technology and is effective in assisting the consistency and integrity of big data sets. It is essential for maintaining the immutability and security of blocks and transactions within a blockchain network.
Merkle trees are usually applied with peer-to-peer networks in order to have shared and validated information. A cryptographic hash function, such as SHA-256 (Secure Hash Algorithm 256-bit), which is frequently employed in blockchain networks like Bitcoin, is used to create Merkle trees. The hash function takes an input (data) of arbitrary size and creates a fixed-size output, which is a unique hash value representing that input data.