How Is Data Stored In Ethereum?

Blockchain technology is elaborate and variegated and how data is stored, maintained and processed varies from one blockchain network to another. Given that Ethereum is one of the best know blockchains out there and is also one that is used very commonly by businesses for enterprise use. How is data stored in Ethereum? Let’s find out.

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The Ethereum blockchain has a very specific way of handling data and processing transactions. The structure is detailed in the yellow paper and we will take a look at how it works today. The blockchain architecture of Ethereum stores data in the following way, discussed in the following section.

Data Storage in Ethereum

Ethereum is capable of handling and managing more than just account balances. The base layer protocol is responsible for processing all kinds of transactions. It is based primarily on transactions themselves.

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The Ethereum blockchain has started off at the genesis blockchain and since then, the addition of fresh transactions, account balance changes, smart contracts and so on.

So every time a transaction takes place on the Ethereum blockchain, the account balances on the corresponding accounts in the blockchain.

What is important to note is that these account balances are not directly stored in the Ethereum blocks themselves. Instead, the root node hashes are stored in the blocks for the transaction trie, state trie and receipts trie.

Now, there are two absolutely different forms of data that can be stored in Ethereum. These two forms are permanent data and ephemeral data. Permanent data would involve data like transactions that have happened.

In a blockchain, a transaction cannot be reversed and hence it is permanent. Ephemeral data would be like the account balances which keep changing because the transactions occur and the balances might change.

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