Deep dive into Merkle proofs and eth

eth_getProof is an Ethereum JSON-RPC method. It returns the Merkle proof of a specific account and its storage at a given block. If you're not familiar with these terms, don't worry. Most people don't understand them. By the end of this article, you should have a better understanding of what eth_getProof is and how to use it.

📘
eth_getProof requires an archive node.

The Merkle trie

eth_getProof was proposed in EIP-1186. The proposal summary states the following:

In order to allow verification of accounts outside the client, we need an additional function delivering us the required proof. These proofs are important to secure Layer2-Technologies.

But how does the proof work?

In the Chainstack blog Deep dive into eth_call, we discuss how Ethereum uses Merkle tries for data storage. There are four types of tries used by Ethereum:

State trie
Storage trie
Receipt trie
Transaction trie

The state trie of Ethereum is like a real tree in some ways. All the account information is stored at the end of the branches, which are represented by the leaves.

Merkle trie in a nut shell — Merkle trie in a nutshell

Each block has a unique hash value that references the storage root. In a full mode, which has access to the most recent 128 blocks, there are 128 isolated state tries (in reality, it is slightly more complicated than this). When the EVM needs to access the account state, it uses the block number to find the proper root hash, then uses the root hash to determine which trie to query, and finally traverses down the branches to identify the correct leaf containing the account information.

Merkle proof

Now, here's the question: we have account information (storageRoot, codeHash, balance, and nonce); how do we verify this information’s authenticity and correctness?
The answer is by using the storage root hash.

For Ethereum, the final root hash is derived by hashing every layer of the trie.

A simplified version of binary Merkle trie. Source: Merkle proofs for offline data integrity.

//In a very simplified fashion
stateRootHash = hash(
	hash(
		hash(hash(A)+hash(B))+hash(hash(C)+hash(D))
	)+
  hash(
		hash(hash(E)+hash(F))+hash(hash(G)+hash(H))
	)
)

The final root hash is computed by hashing all the sub-nodes in the state trie. If any of the account information differs from the original, the resulting root hash will also be different. Therefore, any account information can be verified using an authenticated root hash.

For example, consider the following Ethereum account: 0xdac17f958d2ee523a2206206994597c13d831ec7.

At block 16947990, its account information is as follows:

0xdac17f958d2ee523a2206206994597c13d831ec7{
	balance : '1',
	codeHash : '0xb44fb4e949d0f78f87f79ee46428f23a2a5713ce6fc6e0beb3dda78c2ac1ea55',
	nonce : '1',
	storageHash : '0x171b13e236ba0fd523b341866fdd3db37aeb8eb9bb578e819cbd983971309e3c'
}

The state root hash at block 16947990 is: 0x98612efbedabf19646d53f903810e156143d3174a4e985b00cbf01dc257431d1

If any of the account information does not match the original value, the final root hash will not match 0x98612efbedabf19646d53f903810e156143d3174a4e985b00cbf01dc257431d1. Therefore, we can prove that this information is incorrect.

Here comes another question: do we need every account's information to produce a proof? The answer is obviously no. With millions of accounts on the blockchain, it is not feasible to retrieve all these data just to verify one single account, especially for off-chain verification.

In fact, to verify account C, we don’t really need the information from leaf nodes A, B, D, E, F, G, H; we just need the hash of the intermediate branch nodes.

A simplified version of Merkle proof. Source: Merkle proofs for offline data integrity.

If the value of hashEFGH, hashAB, and hashD are known:

const hashEFGH = hash(hash(hash(E)+hash(F))+hash(hash(G)+hash(H)))
const hashAB = hash(hash(A)+hash(B))
const hashD = hash(D)

The original equation becomes:

//In a very simplified fashion
stateRootHash = hash(hash(hashAB + hash(hash(C)+hashD)+ hashEFGH)

This is much easier, isn't it?

Essentially, eth_getProof returns the values of hashEFGH, hashAB, and hashD. It is also known as Merkle proof.

Merkle proof doesn't only work for account information but also for storage information. Storage refers to the data that lives within an account, such as the owner and balance mapping from an ERC-20 token smart contract.

eth_getProof

eth_getProof returns the Merkle proof for a specific account and its associated storage values. Merkle proofs are used to verify the inclusion of a certain piece of data within a Merkle trie.

Parameters

DATA — Ethereum address of the account for which the proof is requested
ARRAY — the array of 32-byte storage keys that need to be proven and included. See eth_getStorageAt in the API reference.
QUANTITY|TAG — the integer block number identifying the block for which the proof is requested or a string tag such as "latest" or "earliest".

Response

Object — an account object with:

balance: QUANTITY — the balance of the account. See eth_getBalance in the API reference.
codeHash: DATA— the code hash of the account. For a simple account without code, it will return "0xc5d2460186f7233c927e7db2dcc703c0e500b653ca82273b7bfad8045d85a470".
nonce: QUANTITY — the nonce of the account. See eth_getTransactionCount.
storageHash: DATA — SHA3 of the StorageRoot. All storage will deliver a Merkle proof starting with this root hash. This hash is used as the starting point to retrieve a Merkle proof for all storage entries associated with the account.
accountProof: ARRAY — the array of RLP-serialized Merkle trie nodes, starting with the stateRoot-Node, following the path of the SHA3 (address) as key, and can be used to prove the existence and validity of a piece of data in the trie.
storageProof: ARRAY — the requested array of storage entries, where each entry is represented as an object that includes the following properties:
- key: QUANTITY — the requested storage key
- value: QUANTITY — the storage value
- proof: ARRAY — the array of RLP-serialized Merkle trie nodes, starting with the storageHash-Node, following the path of the SHA3 (key) as the path.

Source: EIP-1186 specification

See the following code samples:

curl "YOUR_CHAINSTACK_ENDPOINT" \
-X POST \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"id": 1,"jsonrpc": "2.0","method": "eth_getProof","params": ["0xdac17f958d2ee523a2206206994597c13d831ec7",["0x9c7fca54b386399991ce2d6f6fbfc3879e4204c469d179ec0bba12523ed3d44c"],"latest"]}'

const Web3 = require('web3');
const web3 = new Web3(new Web3.providers.HttpProvider('YOUR_CHAINSTACK_ENDPOINT'));

async function main() {
    // Gets the Merkle proof of USDT's smart contract
    var proof = await web3.eth.getProof(
        "0xdac17f958d2ee523a2206206994597c13d831ec7", [
						//Storage slot hash, value = keccak256(storage address + slot index)
            "0x9c7fca54b386399991ce2d6f6fbfc3879e4204c469d179ec0bba12523ed3d44c"
        ],
        "latest"
    )
    var block = await web3.eth.getBlock("latest")
    //state root is very important for Merkle verification
    var stateRoot = block.stateRoot

		console.log("state root:" + stateRoot)
		console.log(proof)
}

main();

from web3 import Web3
httpUrl = "YOUR_CHAINSTACK_ENDPOINT"
w3 = Web3(Web3.HTTPProvider(httpUrl))

proof = w3.eth.get_proof('0xdAC17F958D2ee523a2206206994597C13D831ec7', ["0x9c7fca54b386399991ce2d6f6fbfc3879e4204c469d179ec0bba12523ed3d44c"], "latest")
print(proof)

Sample result:

{
  address: '0xdAC17F958D2ee523a2206206994597C13D831ec7',
  accountProof: [
    '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',
    '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',
    '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',
    '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',
    '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',
    '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',
    '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',
    '0xf8669d3802a763f7db875346d03fbf86f137de55814b191c069e721f47474733b846f8440101a0146f8675fabbf90b214375a6839a8ddfb33f4c556a26ade8a48c4a82d7055100a0b44fb4e949d0f78f87f79ee46428f23a2a5713ce6fc6e0beb3dda78c2ac1ea55'
  ],
  balance: '1',
  codeHash: '0xb44fb4e949d0f78f87f79ee46428f23a2a5713ce6fc6e0beb3dda78c2ac1ea55',
  nonce: '1',
  storageHash: '0x146f8675fabbf90b214375a6839a8ddfb33f4c556a26ade8a48c4a82d7055100',
  storageProof: [
    {
      key: '0x9c7fca54b386399991ce2d6f6fbfc3879e4204c469d179ec0bba12523ed3d44c',
      value: '0x3499e1d1',
      proof: [Array]
    }
  ]
}

Verifying the proof

This script on Google Colaboratory is a working Python sample from the web3.py’s official documentation. To run the script, follow the steps below.

First, you need to uncomment and run the following pip install commands to install py-trie and web3.py.

# pip install trie # https://github.com/ethereum/py-trie

# pip install web3 # https://web3py.readthedocs.io/

Then you can go to Runtime > Run all or press the ▶️ button beside each cell.

Most importantly, don’t forget to fill in your Chainstack endpoint in the following line:

httpUrl = "YOUR_CHAINSTACK_ENDPOINT"

You can sign up and get an Ethereum RPC endpoint for free:

Next, you can run the code to see it in action.
Scroll all the way down to the last section of the script. This is where the code is executed.

To begin, we retrieve the latest block information by calling w3.eth.get_block("latest").

Next, we obtain the Merkle proof of the account 0xdAC17F958D2ee523a2206206994597C13D831ec7 and one of its storage values by calling w3.eth.get_proof('0xdAC17F958D2ee523a2206206994597C13D831ec7', ["0x9c7fca54b386399991ce2d6f6fbfc3879e4204c469d179ec0bba12523ed3d44c"], "latest").

Then, we verify the proof by calling verify_eth_get_proof(proof, block.stateRoot). If the proof is valid, verify_eth_get_proof returns true to the isValidProof variable. Otherwise, it returns a "Failed to verify account proof" error.

Proof response

Q&A

Why eth_getProof?

This method allows for efficient verification of the network's state without having to download the entire state trie for a block. This can be particularly useful for building lightweight clients or auditing smart contract state changes.
Why Merkle trie?

There are many reasons why Ethereum uses a Merkle trie for data storage, but one of the most important is its verifiability. As a famous blockchain quote goes, "Don’t trust, verify.”
You can learn more about the Merkle trie in the Ethereum documentation article.
How big is a Merkle trie?

The implementation determines this. For Ethereum, the trie is hexary, which means that there are 16 entries for every node.
Does Ethereum keep a separate storage trie for each state?

Yes, Ethereum keeps a separate storage trie for each state.

The storage trie is a part of the state trie that stores the contract state. Each contract on the blockchain has its own storage trie, which is a key-value store that maps 256-bit keys to 256-bit values. This allows smart contracts to persist data across transactions and to maintain their own state.

When a contract is executed, and its state is updated, the new state is stored in a new storage trie, which is then added to the state trie. This creates a new state root, which represents the updated state of the blockchain.
What is RLP?

RLP (recursive length prefix) serialization is a technique widely used by Ethereum clients for serialization purposes. In a Merkle trie, RLP is used to convert key-value pairs (the node entries) into a long string, which is then used for hashing. You can read more in Recursive-length prefix (RLP) serialization.
Is eth_getProof available on Erigon?

At this time, eth_getProof is not available on the Erigon client.

Conclusion

This concludes the article. Congratulations! You now know how to use the eth_getProof method to retrieve a Merkle proof and verify a user's ERC-20 token balance.

When using eth_getProof, remember to provide the correct block number, account address, and key path to retrieve the desired proof.

📘
See also

Tracking some Bored Apes: The Ethereum event logs tutorial

Uncovering the power of eth_getBlockReceipts

Expanding your blockchain horizons: The eth_getBlockReceipts emulator

Geth vs Erigon: Deep dive into RPC methods on Ethereum clients

Ethereum logs tutorial series: Logs and filters

Deep dive into Merkle proofs and eth_getProof

The Merkle trie

Merkle proof

eth_getProof

Parameters

Response

Verifying the proof

Q&A

Conclusion

About the author

Wuzhong Zhu

🥑 Developer Advocate @ Chainstack

🛠️ Happy coding!