Whitepaper Alert: Historical and Multichain Storage Proofs

We are pleased to announce the publication of our systematic review of storage proofs in the Ethereum ecosystem. With this work, we continue our commitment to transparency and contribution to the public goods we build upon at vlayer. The whitepaper is now available on arxiv.org.

Why Storage Proofs Matter

As the Ethereum ecosystem continues to expand with Layer 2, storage proofs have become critical infrastructure. With dozens of L2 networks running independently, the ecosystem has become increasingly fragmented. This is where storage proofs can shine:

• Access to History: Smart contracts are currently limited to accessing only recent blockchain states. Storage proofs unlock the ability to securely verify historical data, expanding what's possible in decentralized applications.
• Cross-chain Interoperability: Storage proofs provide the cryptographic foundation for verifying the state between different chains, enabling secure communication between Ethereum and its Layer 2 networks.

Our Contribution

While storage proofs are widely used in Ethereum, the landscape has become increasingly complicated. Firstly, we systematized the fundamental building blocks required to verify data in Ethereum – from Merkle trees to storage proofs in Ethereum’s hierarchical structure. Next, we reviewed state of the art approaches to historical state verification. In particular, we focused on comparing historical block caches based on Merkle Mountain Range (MMR) and Merkle-Patricia trie (MPT) structures. In our publication, we also describe three distinct cases of multichain storage proofs, formalizing architectures for potential future implementations.

This research contributes to the ecosystem by bringing clarity to the complex world of storage proofs. It is a valuable resource for protocol designers, developers, and researchers. By organizing existing approaches, we hope to make important concepts more accessible to those building in the Ethereum ecosystem.

Acknowledgments

We extend our gratitude to Herodotus as well as the broader Ethereum, Optimism, and Arbitrum research communities, whose innovative work on storage proofs and Layer 2 scaling solutions made this analysis possible.

Access the Whitepaper

Click on the button below to download the full whitepaper: 

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Get in Touch

We welcome feedback and discussion - feel free to reach out to Maciej and Marek with your thoughts or questions about the paper. 

At vlayer, we use storage proofs to implement our Time Travel and Teleport features. These smart contract superpowers enable developers to access historical data and interact across chains straight from Solidity. Read more in our "Verifiable Data Report: Time Travel & Teleport".