Pruned Full-Node Mode

The Ergo Protocol Reference Client 5.0.13 introduced a new feature: bootstrapping using a verified UTXO set snapshot and NiPoPoWS. This feature allows you to achieve full node security on a standard laptop within minutes, eliminating the need to check approximately 95% of the blockchain. This addresses the increasing demands for downloading, storing, and processing the entire blockchain.

This mode is akin to the fast-sync in Geth or Grothendieck and warp-mode in Parity, used by Ethereum protocol clients, but with more aggressive optimizations.

Getting Started

Important: You cannot restore an old wallet with a pruned node. The recommended approach is to create a new wallet and transfer funds to it.

Add the following utxo and nipopow sections to your node configuration to enable UTXO Set Snapshots.

ergo {
    node {
        mining = false

        utxo {
           utxoBootstrap = true
           storingUtxoSnapshots = 0
        }
        nipopow {
           nipopowBootstrap = true
           p2pNipopows = 2
        }
    }

}

scorex {
    restApi {
        apiKeyHash = "324dcf027dd4a30a932c441f365a25e86b173defa4b8e58948253471b81b72cf"
    }
}

Note on Progress Reporting: Currently, the node may not provide detailed progress updates specifically during the download phase of the UTXO snapshot itself when utxoBootstrap = true. Synchronization progress for headers and subsequent blocks is typically visible via the node panel (/panel) or logs, but the snapshot download phase might appear as a period of inactivity before regular block processing resumes.

Technical Details

The UTXO set authentication uses an AVL+ tree, outlined in this research paper and available in the Scrypto framework. This research paper indicates that this method can be as secure as processing all blocks under certain statistical assumptions.

For more information see the Technical Details.