StarkWare, a leader in zero-knowledge technology that verifies data without exposing its contents, has announced a breakthrough: a lightweight zero-knowledge verification method for the Bitcoin (BTC) blockchain designed to run efficiently on mobile devices.
This innovative proof encompasses all Bitcoin block headers from the genesis block to the current one. Crucially, it omits the extensive blockchain history, which exceeds 680 gigabytes. By focusing on block headers, it drastically reduces the data needed for verification.
Block headers include key details such as the Bitcoin software version used, references to previous blocks, timestamps, block size, and the nonce — a critical random number miners find to validate transactions and add blocks to the blockchain.
Abdelhamid Bakhta, StarkWare’s head of ecosystem, shared with Coinstelegram that the entire blockchain proof is compressed into just 1 megabyte, enabling transaction verification in less than 100 milliseconds on mobile devices.
This approach builds upon the well-known Simplified Payment Verification (SPV) concept introduced by Satoshi Nakamoto, which allows lightweight nodes to confirm payments without downloading the full blockchain ledger.
StarkWare’s advancement means users can easily verify Bitcoin transactions without running a full Bitcoin node. Full nodes, which validate all transactions, can cost between $300 and $1,000 to maintain and may be too complex for average users to operate.
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Node Storage Demands and Ledger Size Spark Debate in Bitcoin Community
Running a Bitcoin node today is simpler and more accessible than many other blockchains, which often require significant financial investment. Since 2009, Bitcoin’s protocol has generated about 680 gigabytes of data—manageable on common personal computers.
This relative ease of operation supports Bitcoin’s decentralization, as independent node operators maintain the network’s consensus.
However, if hardware demands escalate, fewer individuals can run nodes. This leads to centralization risks where only major providers can maintain the blockchain, undermining Bitcoin’s foundational goals.
The inclusion of non-monetary data through inscriptions, ordinals, and other storage on the blockchain has raised concerns by enlarging the ledger and increasing storage burdens, potentially risking decentralization.
In May, Bitcoin Core developers, whose software is used by roughly 80% of Bitcoin nodes, announced Bitcoin Core 30 will drop the OP_Return data limit in an October update. This limit currently restricts the maximum non-monetary data size embedded in transactions to 80 bytes.
The increase in allowed data size has led to a surge in Bitcoin Knots nodes—an alternative node software offering greater customization, including filters on the amount of OP_Return data stored or relayed. By 2025, Knots nodes account for nearly 20% of the network, up sharply from 1% at the end of 2024.
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