Term

Account Model

A ledger design where balances are tracked by accounts rather than discrete outputs.

Type:
technology
fundamentals
1
definition

In the account model, the ledger tracks each account's balance and state directly. Transactions specify senders and recipients, adjusting balances accordingly. Ethereum popularized this model for smart contracts, where account state also includes contract code and storage.

This contrasts with the UTXO model (Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash), where coins are discrete outputs that are consumed and created, improving parallelism and privacy characteristics.

2
considerations
  • Simpler for contract state and composability
  • Requires nonces to prevent replay and ensure ordering
  • Global state growth can impact performance and node requirements

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