A Fast Ethereum-Compatible Forkless Database

TL;DR

This paper presents a new Ethereum-compatible database optimized for non-forking blockchains, achieving significant speed and space efficiency improvements over traditional key-value store-based implementations.

Contribution

It introduces a native database design tailored for fast, non-forking blockchains, replacing legacy key-value store architectures for better performance and space savings.

Findings

Tenfold speed improvements for validators

99% reduction in storage space for validators

Threefold decrease in storage for archive nodes

Abstract

The State Database of a blockchain stores account data and enables authentication. Modern blockchains use fast consensus protocols to avoid forking, improving throughput and finality. However, Ethereum's StateDB was designed for a forking chain that maintains multiple state versions. While newer blockchains adopt Ethereum's standard for DApp compatibility, they do not require multiple state versions, making legacy Ethereum databases inefficient for fast, non-forking blockchains. Moreover, existing StateDB implementations have been built on key-value stores (e.g., LevelDB), which make them less efficient. This paper introduces a novel state database that is a native database implementation and maintains Ethereum compatibility while being specialized for non-forking blockchains. Our database delivers ten times speedups and 99% space reductions for validators, and a threefold decrease in storage requirements for archive nodes.