Foundations
Chain snapshots
On Irys, a blockchain can store its own state snapshots and let any node verify them before use, with no trusted server in the middle. A snapshot is a full copy of a blockchain's state at a specific block: every balance, contract, and record it holds. Each snapshot carries a cryptographic receipt, so a joining node can confirm in milliseconds that every byte matches what was originally uploaded.
Why do snapshot downloads require trust?
Every node that joins a network needs a starting state, and today that state usually arrives as a download from a snapshot server run by one company. A network can secure its consensus with thousands of validators and still hand every new node its starting state from that one server. It is a single point of failure the whole network inherits, and using it means trusting whoever runs it. Blockchains have accepted this trade because there was no alternative. The state is too large to rebuild from scratch, and the blockchain itself has no way to verify that a file hosted outside of it is the right file.
How do chain snapshots work on Irys?
Irys publishes its snapshots to its own network. At upload, the gateway generates a cryptographic receipt for the data. The receipt links every chunk of the snapshot to a block the network has already confirmed. A joining node downloads the snapshot, checks each chunk against the receipt, and starts from the snapshot only after every byte has been verified. If a single byte were changed, the receipt would not match, and the node would reject the file.
The network preserves and verifies its own state. New nodes can join with no trusted third party involved. Irys is the first blockchain that can do this.
Can other blockchains use Irys for snapshots?
Any blockchain can do the same. Publish snapshots to Irys, and every node that joins verifies its starting state the same way it verifies everything else, checking cryptographically against confirmed blocks. The blockchain keeps its own consensus and its own validators, and no longer has to trust a storage provider to bootstrap new nodes.