Ethereum Execution Layer Data Structures

:warning: This article is a stub, help the wiki by contributing and expanding it.

Block

block_header

• block_header
  • parent_hash // Hash of the previous block
  • ommers_hash // Hash of the ommers (a.k.a. uncles) list
  • beneficiary // Address of the miner or validator who receives block rewards
  • state_root // Root hash of the world state trie after all txs are executed
  • transactions_root // Root hash of the transaction trie for this block
  • receipts_root // Root hash of the receipt trie for this block
  • logs_bloom // Bloom filter summarizing all logs from receipts in this block
  • difficulty // PoW: difficulty of the block
  • number // Block number (height in the chain)
  • gas_limit // Maximum amount of gas allowed in this block
  • gas_used // Total gas used by all transactions in this block
  • timestamp // Unix timestamp for when the block was proposed
  • extra_data // Arbitrary 32-byte field for additional data (e.g. miner ID)
  • mix_hash / prev_randao // PoW: used in nonce verification; PoS: random seed for validators EIP-4399 – Paris
  • nonce // PoW only: solution for the mining puzzle
  • base_fee_per_gas // Minimum base fee per gas EIP-1559 – London
  • withdrawals_root // Root of the withdrawals list trie EIP-4895 – Shanghai
  • base_fee_per_blob_gas // Minimum blob gas fee EIP-4844 – Dencun
  • blob_gas_used // Total blob gas used in the block EIP-4844 – Dencun
  • excess_blob_gas // Rolling counter of unused blob gas EIP-4844 – Dencun
  • parent_beacon_block_root // SSZ root of the parent beacon block EIP-4788 – Dencun
  • requests_root // Root hash of EL-generated cross-layer requests EIP-7685 – Pectra

block_body

• block_body
  • transactions[] // List of transactions executed in the block, in order
  • ommers[] // List of ommer (uncle) block headers (legacy, empty in PoS)
  • withdrawals[] // List of ETH withdrawals for validators EIP-4895 – Shanghai
  • requests[] // List of cross-layer requests generated by execution EIP-7685 – Pectra

state_trie

• (rooted at state_root)
• keccak(address1) -> RLP(nonce, balance, storage_root, code_hash)
  • nonce // Number of transactions sent (EOA) or created (contract)
  • balance // ETH balance of the account, in wei
  • storage_root // Root of this account's storage trie (contracts only)
  • code_hash // keccak256 hash of the account's code (contracts) or empty hash (EOAs)
  • storage_trie (if contract)
    • keccak(slot0) -> RLP(value0) // Contract storage: key-value pairs at specific slots
• keccak(address2) -> ...

transaction_trie

• (rooted at transactions_root)

Legacy Transaction (type 0x00)

• pre-EIP-2718 – Frontier

• RLP(0) -> Transaction 0

  • RLP(nonce, gas_price, gas_limit, to, value, data, v, r, s)
    • nonce // Number of txs sent by sender prior to this
    • gas_price // Legacy pricing model: gas price per unit
    • gas_limit // Max gas this tx is allowed to consume
    • to // Recipient address or empty (for contract creation)
    • value // ETH to transfer in wei
    • data // Call data for contract interaction or init code for creation
    • v, r, s // Signature components (used to recover sender address)

Access List Transaction (type 0x01)

• EIP-2930 – Berlin

• RLP(0) -> Transaction 0

  • RLP(chain_id, nonce, gas_price, gas_limit, to, value, data, access_list, v, r, s)
  • Extends Legacy Transaction by adding:
    • chain_id // EIP-155 – Spurious Dragon
    • access_list // list of addresses/storage keys to be accessed EIP-2930 – Berlin

Dynamic-Fee Transaction (type 0x02)

• EIP-1559 – London

• RLP(0) -> Transaction 0

  • RLP(chain_id, nonce, max_priority_fee_per_gas, max_fee_per_gas, gas_limit, to, value, data, access_list, v, r, s)
  • Extends Access List Transaction by replacing gas_price with:
    • max_priority_fee_per_gas //tip for the validator EIP-1559 – London
    • max_fee_per_gas // maximum fee willing to pay per unit of gas EIP-1559 – London

Blob-Carrying Transaction (type 0x03)

• EIP-4844 – Dencun

• RLP(0) -> Transaction 0

  • RLP(chain_id, nonce, max_priority_fee_per_gas, max_fee_per_gas, gas_limit, to, value, data, access_list, max_fee_per_blob_gas, blob_versioned_hashes, v, r, s)
  • Extends Dynamic-Fee Transaction by adding:
    • max_fee_per_blob_gas // Maximum fee willing to pay per blob gas unit EIP-4844 – Dencun
    • blob_versioned_hashes // List of hashes for each blob EIP-4844 – Dencun ...

receipt_trie

• (rooted at receipts_root)

• RLP(0) -> receipt_0

  • type // Receipt type byte prefix EIP-2718 – Berlin
  • status // 1 = success, 0 = failure EIP-658 – Byzantium ; pre-Byzantium: state_root
  • cumulative_gas_used // Total gas used up to and including this tx in the block
  • logs_bloom // 256-byte bloom filter summarizing all logs from this tx
  • logs[] // List of event logs emitted during execution
    • address // Address of the contract that emitted the log
    • topics[] // Array of indexed topics (includes event signature)
    • data // ABI-encoded non-indexed event data

• RLP(1) -> receipt_1
  ...

withdrawals entries

• withdrawals(0) -> withdrawal_0
  • validator_index // Index of the validator making the withdrawal
  • address // Address to receive the withdrawal
  • amount // Amount in gwei