VTA Benchmark
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Deep Technical Audit

Block Header + Merkle Root + PoW Validation

This audit traces the block-header fields represented by the VTA chain index and the validation/evidence path used by the benchmark. It separates source-defined header structure from the independently captured local block evidence and does not turn a single local block into a network-wide claim.

Header Fields

VERIFIED IN SOURCE

VTA's block index carries version, previous-block linkage, Merkle root, time, compact target (nBits) and nonce.

Chain Work

VERIFIED IN SOURCE

GetBlockWork() derives work from the compact target; chain selection uses cumulative work in the audited code path.

Local Block Evidence

VERIFIED LOCAL NODE

The benchmark has a typed block-evidence record from local VTA Core, including hash, Merkle root, time, nBits and nonce.

Validation Model

Block Headerversion • prev • time Merkle Roottx commitment nBits Targetcompact difficulty Nonce / HashPoW proof Block Hashidentity / work Transaction commitment check Merkle root stored in the block header must correspond to the block's transaction set. The benchmark's local evidence also stores the observed Merkle root for independent record comparison. PoW / target check The source represents nBits as the compact target and derives per-block work from that target. Exact release-specific PoW verification function tracing remains separate from header-field evidence.

Audit Matrix

AreaFindingStatus
Header representationVTA CBlockIndex stores nVersion, hashMerkleRoot, nTime, nBits and nNonce, and reconstructs a CBlockHeader including the previous block hash.Verified in source
Previous-block linkageGetBlockHeader() uses pprev->GetBlockHash() when a previous index exists.Verified in source
Merkle-root fieldhashMerkleRoot is part of the block header/index and is serialized with the disk block index.Verified in source
Target representationnBits is interpreted as a compact target when GetBlockWork() calculates work.Verified in source
Chain-work calculationGetBlockWork() returns (2^256)/(target+1) for a positive compact target.Verified in source
Median timeThe block index computes MedianTimePast over up to 11 blocks.Verified in source
Local block evidenceBenchmark block evidence contains height, hash, Merkle root, block time, nBits, nonce, previous hash and difficulty from the local Core bridge.Verified local evidence
Independent Merkle recomputationThe stored local Merkle root has not been independently recomputed from a full raw transaction set on this page.Not measured here
Independent PoW recomputationThe benchmark records the local node's accepted block metadata but does not claim an independent Scrypt hash recomputation here.Not measured here
Network-wide header validationA single local node cannot establish that all current network peers validate headers identically.Not measured

Local Evidence Record

Height

2,438,866
Local VTA Core snapshot

Difficulty

10.50183189
Local accepted-block context

Evidence Scope

Local node verification only — not current network-wide height.

Interpretation rule: Header structure and chain-work calculations are source findings. The displayed block data is a verified local-node snapshot. Merkle and PoW cryptographic recomputation require raw transaction/header bytes and are intentionally not claimed without that independent calculation.
Source: VirtaCoinProject/src/main.h and VirtaCoinProject/src/main.cpp. Local evidence comes from the VTA Benchmark block-evidence bridge.