LibraryScaling2019Design paperCorpus record
Vault: Fast Bootstrapping for the Algorand Cryptocurrency
Vault. Derek Leung, Adam Suhl, Yossi Gilad and Nickolai Zeldovich.
Vault compresses Algorand's state and the proofs a client needs so a bootstrapping node does not replay the entire history.
A reading of the public paper. Not a copy, not a benchmark, and not a claim about any later network.
A light client pitch needs a certificate and a statement of what history it can no longer show.
- Evidence
- Primary paper
- Re-measured
- No
- Assumptions
- 3
- Records linked
- 3
Code
Source, repository, and what is actually hosted
- ePrint 2018/269https://eprint.iacr.org/2018/269
- The source URL is not a GitHub repository. No code remote is invented.
- Full text is not mirrored. Public availability is not a licence to copy the file onto this site.
- Add to a reading list
01 Claim ledger
What the paper is allowed to say
Each row is a sentence already in the study. The status is the same on every row: a model claim, not a live measurement.
Claim 01 · Paper model
The defect
A new node that downloads every block from genesis before it can pay is not a practical client, even if the consensus paper is sound.
Claim 02 · Paper model
The proposal
Vault compresses Algorand's state and the proofs a client needs so a bootstrapping node does not replay the entire history.
Claim 03 · Paper model
Bootstrapping is a data problem sitting beside consensus.
A certificate replaces a replay only if it commits to the state the client will trust.
Claim 04 · Paper model
The bound
This does not make an uncertified state safe.
02 Three cuts
Observation, model, falsifier
A desk does not stop at the summary. Each claim is cut three ways, using only this study's own assumptions and checks. Nothing here is a new figure.
01 The defect
Observation
What the study says
A new node that downloads every block from genesis before it can pay is not a practical client, even if the consensus paper is sound.
Model
What has to hold
It is not a general light-client protocol for other chains.
Falsifier
What would retire it
What does the client verify instead of replaying?
02 The proposal
Observation
What the study says
Vault compresses Algorand's state and the proofs a client needs so a bootstrapping node does not replay the entire history.
Model
What has to hold
This does not make an uncertified state safe.
Falsifier
What would retire it
What does the client verify instead of replaying?
03 Bootstrapping is a data problem sitting beside consensus.
Observation
What the study says
A certificate replaces a replay only if it commits to the state the client will trust.
Model
What has to hold
This does not make an uncertified state safe.
Falsifier
What would retire it
What does the client verify instead of replaying?
04 The bound
Observation
What the study says
This does not make an uncertified state safe.
Model
What has to hold
This does not make an uncertified state safe.
Falsifier
What would retire it
Which chain's state commitment is assumed?
03 Sequence
One action, as an operating tape
- 01Keep a compact commitment to balances.
- 02Serve a proof for the slice a client asks about.
- 03The client checks the certificate instead of every historical block.
- 04What history is no longer available?
04 Load-bearing
The argument, and where a pitch drops it
What the paper is for
The cut
A light client pitch needs a certificate and a statement of what history it can no longer show.
Why it carries weight
If this cut is skipped, the paper's name is being used without the mechanism that makes the name mean anything.
Where it is dropped
It is not a general light-client protocol for other chains.
What happened after
The cut
Stateless clients and later data-availability schemes answer the neighbouring problem for other chains.
Why it carries weight
If this cut is skipped, the paper's name is being used without the mechanism that makes the name mean anything.
Where it is dropped
It is not a general light-client protocol for other chains.
05 Register
What has to be true
Model · Not re-measured
This does not make an uncertified state safe.
Model · Not re-measured
It is not a general light-client protocol for other chains.
Data · Not re-measured
Compression can drop data a later application needed. The paper should say what is dropped.
06 Divergence
What happened after the paper
Stateless clients and later data-availability schemes answer the neighbouring problem for other chains.
A later client, parameter set, or reward formula is a different object. Cite this paper for the mechanism. Cite a primary release for the network. This desk has not re-run the proof.
07 Pre-mortem
What to check before you use the idea
- 0 of 3 marked on this browser. A mark is a reading note, not a pass, a rating, or a recommendation.
08 Anatomy
The paper, in the order a builder needs
The problem it names
A new node that downloads every block from genesis before it can pay is not a practical client, even if the consensus paper is sound.
What the design proposes
How the mechanism is specified
- Keep a compact commitment to balances.
- Serve a proof for the slice a client asks about.
- The client checks the certificate instead of every historical block.
What this page does not treat as proven
- This does not make an uncertified state safe.
- It is not a general light-client protocol for other chains.
- Compression can drop data a later application needed. The paper should say what is dropped.
Why the desk still reads it
A light client pitch needs a certificate and a statement of what history it can no longer show.
09 Lexicon
Terms, opened into the record
- Bootstrapping
- Getting a new node to a recent valid state.
- Certificate
- A proof that replaces replaying the blocks.
10 Repository
Every linked record on this page
Underlined words open a page that already exists: a concept, a protocol profile, a failure record, or another paper. If a word is not underlined, this desk does not have a record for it.
Concepts
Protocols
This is Blockchain Lab's reading of a public design paper. It is not the paper, not a copy of it, and not an offer of tokens, equity, custody or a partnership. Later network behaviour can diverge from the text. Nothing here is investment, legal or technical advice.
Research status: Design paper. Last reviewed: 1 October 2026. This is a reading of a public paper, not investment, legal or security advice.