EtherH: A Hybrid Index to Support Blockchain Data Query

Abstract

As the underlying technology of cryptocurrency, blockchain is characterized by decentralization and immutability. It is considered as a new generation of disruptive technology. However, the underlying storage of blockchain only provides limited support for data query. This limits the utility of blockchain technology. To improve the efficiency of access to blockchain data, we design EtherH based on Ethereum, the most representative open blockchain system. EtherH is a hybrid index that can provide Single-V query and Range query on Ethereum blockchain. To make the index build more specific, EtherH supports elastic data building. A portion of the blockchain data is selected for index building. We connect the client to the Rinkeby network to obtain block data and conduct extensive experiments. Experimental results prove that EtherH performs well in both data insertion and data query.