Bitcoin Sighash Flags: Partial Signing Explained
Sighash flags let Bitcoin signers commit to only part of a transaction, the mechanics, the real tradeoffs, and what each flag actually does.
№ 002BitcoinBitcoin Silent Payments: Unique Addresses via BIP-352
BIP-352 lets senders derive a fresh Bitcoin address from your published keys alone, no coordination, no on-chain fingerprint. The mechanism, plainly explained.
№ 003EthereumEthereum's Keccak-256 vs SHA-3: Same Sponge, Different Hash
Ethereum uses Keccak-256, not NIST SHA-3. Same sponge construction, different padding, different output, and the gap has broken real production tooling.
№ 004EthereumEthereum Verkle Trees: Witness Size for Stateless Clients
Verkle trees shrink Ethereum's cryptographic witnesses from megabytes to kilobytes, the mechanics of why that matters for stateless client verification.
№ 005SecurityBulletproofs: Range Proof Verification at Logarithmic Scale
Bulletproofs cut Monero range proof sizes from ~13 KB to under 800 bytes. The mechanism is a recursive inner product argument, and the math holds up.
№ 006SecurityVerifiable Delay Functions and Randomness Beacon Security
VDFs make on-chain randomness manipulation structurally expensive via a sequential delay no adversary can compress. The mechanics, caveats, tradeoffs.
№ 007SecurityKeccak-256 Preimage Resistance and Ethereum's State Trie
How Ethereum's Keccak-256 hash function blocks preimage attacks on the state trie, explained with concrete mechanics and a worked example.
№ 008SecurityMerkle Mountain Ranges: Proof of Inclusion Explained
MMRs let blockchains prove data inclusion against a growing history without invalidating old proofs. The mechanic, the math, and the tradeoffs.
№ 009SecurityHomomorphic Encryption vs Zero-Knowledge Proofs
HE computes on encrypted data; ZK proofs verify claims about it. Understanding the mechanical difference prevents costly architectural mistakes.
№ 010AnalysisRecursive STARK Proofs: Flat Verification Costs Explained
Recursive STARKs aggregate thousands of proofs into one fixed-cost verification. The mechanism, the trade-offs, and a worked example.
№ 011EthereumCryptographic Accumulators and Stateless Clients
Cryptographic accumulators let blockchain clients verify transactions without storing full state, the mechanism, real tradeoffs, and decentralization stakes.
№ 012BitcoinBIP-32 HD Wallets: How Key Derivation Actually Works
BIP-32 derives millions of Bitcoin keys from one seed without exposing the root. The exact mechanism, the hardening tradeoff, and where the real risks sit.