Introduction

Experimental proofs of concept that validate specific subsystems independently

POCs explore targeted questions about Erigon's architecture. They are experimental by design — the goal is to validate a hypothesis, identify blockers, and produce a concrete recommendation for the production path forward.

POC	Question	Status
Sparse Snapshots	Can an Erigon node process blocks using only on-demand BitTorrent piece fetches, without downloading complete domain files?	Validated — 19 blocks processed. Blocked on caching layer.
QMTree Commitment	Can an append-only binary Merkle tree indexed by txNum replace the hex patricia trie as a state commitment scheme?	Working PoC on qmtree branch. Live data on Hoodi testnet.

Sparse SnapshotsQMTree Commitment