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Blocks

As in other cryptocurrencies, the ledger of token transactions is built and stored in a linked series of blocks, known as a blockchain. This ledger provides a permanent record of transactions that have taken place, and also establishes the order in which transactions have occurred. A copy of the blockchain is kept on every node in the IEP network, and every account that is unlocked on a node (by supplying that account’s private key) has the ability to generate blocks, as long as at least one incoming transaction to the account has been confirmed 1440 times.

Any account that meets these criteria is referred to as an active account. In IEP, each block contains up to 255 transactions, all prefaced by a 192­byte header that contains identifying parameters. Each transaction in a block is represented by a maximum of 160 bytes, and the maximum block size is 32KB. All blocks contain the following parameters:

  • A block version, block height value, and block identifier
  • A block timestamp, expressed in seconds since the genesis block
  • The ID of the account that generated the block, as well as that account’s public key
  • The ID and hash of the previous block. The number of transactions stored in the block
  • The total amount of token represented by transactions and fees in the block
  • Transaction data for all transactions included in the block, including their transaction IDs
  • The payload length of the block, and the hash value of the block payload