🚡Layer 2
Last updated
Last updated
Precedence enables information to be structured using the same paradigm as blockchain technologies. Each record is an arbitrary set of binary information that can be cryptographically linked to one or more previous records. A record is persisted in a block. A block is a set of records and can contain one or more records. Each block is cryptographically linked to the previous block (with the exception of the first, which is explicitly identifiable as the first block).
All the records making up a block are structured in the form of a Merkle Patricia Trie (strictly identical to those used in Ethereum). This structuring enables the calculation of a number (called the root hash), often represented in hexadecimal form, which represents all the records in the block; every modification, however minor, of a record impacts the value of this number, so that (i) it is not possible to impact a record without impacting the value of the root hash and (ii) it is not possible to determine, from this number, the set of records that enables its calculation (this class of functions is called one-way functions).
This data format makes it possible to extract a cryptographic proof of existence from each record in a block. This means that it is possible to mathematically demonstrate that a record is part of a block, and that this proof is irrefutable because it cannot be forged from other records.
