Proof-of-concept for EIP-8304 merging implemented
A team collaborating on EIP-8304, Ethereum’s trustless log and transaction index proposal, has successfully produced the first merge proof for grouping indexed block tables. Using four consecutive 256-block tables from mainnet, they proved their combination into a single 1,024-block table. The process used the SP1 prover and Groth16 protocol, completing in 107 minutes on a single L40S GPU, for about $2 in hardware costs. The computed roots matched those obtained by the reference implementation, confirming both encoding and root compatibility. ethereum-magicians.org
Benchmarks and next steps for trustless indexing
Benchmarking revealed that about 83% of the compute time was consumed by SHA-256 re-hashing of input and output tables during merging, while the actual merge computation was minimal. Developers are now working on recursive merge proofs for even larger historical tables, alongside a contract to track these tables’ history for on-chain lookup proofs. The feasibility of using this system for pre-fork Ethereum history is also being investigated, with consensus being that hardcoded, independently verified table roots can act as interim solutions. ethereum-magicians.org