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Cryptographic Trees

Definition

Cryptographic trees, such as Merkle trees, are data structures that use cryptographic hashes to verify the integrity and authenticity of large sets of data efficiently. Each leaf node contains a hash of a data block, and each non-leaf node contains the hash of its child nodes. This structure allows for rapid verification of any data block within the set without needing to process all data. They are fundamental for ensuring data consistency and security in distributed systems.