ARDVRK

Aardvark is a cutting-edge cryptocurrency designed to streamline transaction validation through a novel approach known as an asynchronous authenticated dictionary . This innovative system significantly reduces the storage burden on validators by employing untrusted servers to manage data and provide concise, verifiable proofs of its accuracy. Aardvark's design is particularly adept at handling the challenges of high-throughput environments, such as those found in cryptocurrencies.

In the Aardvark model, transactions are processed concurrently and asynchronously, which can sometimes lead to proofs becoming outdated before they are validated. To counteract this, Aardvark utilizes a versioning mechanism that permits the acceptance of slightly outdated proofs for a limited time, thus ensuring the system's efficiency and reliability . This mechanism is crucial for maintaining a high level of transaction throughput without compromising on security or accuracy.

The system is designed to be lightweight, with operation proof sizes being approximately 1KB in a Merkle Tree versus just 100–200B in Aardvark. This results in a substantial reduction in storage costs, with the potential for an 800× savings compared to maintaining the entire state . Aardvark's architecture also includes a transaction interface that supports operations such as Get, Put, and Delete, providing a robust platform for account-based cryptocurrencies like Ethereum and Algorand .

In terms of performance, Aardvark demonstrates impressive capabilities, with a 32-core validator able to process thousands of operations per second. This level of performance is achieved through the use of pairing-based vector commitments, which provide short and efficient proofs . The system's design also ensures that it remains efficient under adversarial access patterns, with strict upper bounds on resource usage.