2018-07-11 12:45:10 -07:00
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# Light Client Protocol
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Light clients are an important part of the complete blockchain system
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for most applications. Tendermint provides unique speed and security
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properties for light client applications.
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See our [lite
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package](https://godoc.org/github.com/tendermint/tendermint/lite).
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## Overview
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The objective of the light client protocol is to get a
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2018-09-09 23:42:48 -07:00
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commit for a recent block
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hash where the commit includes a
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2018-07-11 12:45:10 -07:00
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majority of signatures from the last known validator set. From there,
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all the application state is verifiable with [merkle
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proofs](../spec/blockchain/encoding.md#iavl-tree).
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2018-07-11 12:45:10 -07:00
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## Properties
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2018-08-27 00:33:46 -07:00
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- You get the full collateralized security benefits of Tendermint; No
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need to wait for confirmations.
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- You get the full speed benefits of Tendermint; transactions
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commit instantly.
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- You can get the most recent version of the application state
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non-interactively (without committing anything to the blockchain).
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For example, this means that you can get the most recent value of a
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name from the name-registry without worrying about fork censorship
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attacks, without posting a commit and waiting for confirmations.
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It's fast, secure, and free!
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