Utreexo could let you run a Bitcoin node on your mobile phone
Nowadays, you need a fast computer in order to run a bitcoin node since the UTXO set—the code with information on whether bitcoin has been spent—is heavy. According to CoinDesk, Tadge Dryja, a cryptocurrency research scientist at the MIT Digital Currency Initiative, is working on a solution to change that.
Utreexo collapses hardware requirements for users running full nodes, shrinking the entire state into an easily verifiable cryptographic proof. Because state size increases with each transaction, requiring full nodes to increase storage capacity, the solution is well sought-after.
Dryja’s model already has a working proof-of-concept code, which allows bitcoin nodes to be used on any computer, even one without amazing specs.
“If you have a fast computer this actually doesn’t help. It will not make much difference or make it slower. But if you have a crummy computer it will make a really big difference,” Dryja told CoinDesk. “We want bitcoin to work on crummy computers as well.”
The idea is utreexo could, in the end, help minimise storage requirements so that running bitcoin nodes on a mobile phone could become a reality. Meanwhile, Dan Boneh, Benedikt Bünz and Ben Fisch have been researching a different solution to the problem—however, at the moment, their research is less advanced than Dryja’s.
