LMPTs: Eliminating Storage Bottlenecks for Processing Blockchain Transactions

Abstract

We present the Layered Merkle Patricia Trie (LMPT), a performant storage data structure for processing transactions in high-throughput systems when com-pared to traditional Merkle Patricia Tries used in Ethereum clients. LMPTs keep smaller intermediary tries in memory to alleviate read and write amplification from high-latency disk storage. As an additional feat, they also allow for the I/O and transaction verifier threads to be scheduled in parallel and independently. LMPTs can ultimately reduce significant I/O traffic that happens on the critical path of transaction processing. Empirical results presented here confirm that LMPTs can process up to × 6 more transactions per second on real-life workloads when compared to existing Ethereum clients.