Glossary

Simplified Payment Verification (SPV)

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Simplified Payment Verification (SPV) is a term used to describe software which queries other nodes for new blocks and transactions but does not store the blockchain itself, like a node. An SPV client is a form of light client described by Satoshi Nakamoto in the whitepaper.

The purpose of SPV is to afford users a trust-minimized way of examining the blockchain without the inconvenience of running a node. SPV clients do trust the nodes through which they query the blockchain, but the ability to abuse this trust is extremely limited thanks to the cryptographic security of Merkle trees and the presence of other nodes.

Related Terms
Bitcoin Node
A node is a discrete member of a network which interacts with other nodes to form the network. Bitcoin nodes store and validate the blockchain and exchange blocks and transactions with one another in order to maintain consensus.
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Light Client
A light client is a Bitcoin application, such as a wallet, that does not store the blockchain. A light client queries other nodes for specific transactions or blocks of interest. Light clients are less private and trustworthy than nodes, but are more convenient and less demanding of disk space.
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Merkle Tree
A Merkle tree is a data structure which stores all transactions in a given block. The Merkle tree's root is placed in the block header as a summary of all transactions.
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