Rather than download the full blockchain or a pruned version; would it be viable to peer-to-peer ask 'what is this block' or 'what is this tx'?
We download the full blockchain from several peers so why not ask peers for just on piece of info?
Negate the need for blockchain explores and full blockchain syncing for simple queries #9444
issue benzmuircroft opened this issue on December 29, 2016-
benzmuircroft commented at 8:15 PM on December 29, 2016: none
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sipa commented at 8:19 PM on December 29, 2016: member
Because Bitcoin Core is a full node, and for full validation, we need all blocks. Otherwise we would not know whether certain coins aren't already spent by an earlier transaction.
- sipa closed this on Dec 29, 2016
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rebroad commented at 6:52 AM on December 30, 2016: contributor
@benzmuircroft Thanks for the suggestion though - bitcoin is a complex thing, so I know from experience, it can be difficult to tell the difference between thinking we've found something missed, vs. not fulling understanding the requirements. Your suggestion is more in-line with what an "SPV" node does, which requires a level of trust with the nodes providing the results of the queries you mention. #9076 may be a step in the direction of what you are proposing.
- bitcoin locked this on Sep 8, 2021
