The eth_getProof method returns the account and storage values of a specific address, including cryptographic Merkle proofs. These proofs verify that the data is correctly included in the state trie without requiring trust in the data provider.

Use Cases

L2 solutions that require state verification
Cross-chain bridges and validation
Trustless blockchain data verification
Light client implementations
Stateless client development
Zero-knowledge proof systems
Fraud proof construction
Security audits and verification

Method Details

This method retrieves both account proofs and storage proofs for specified storage keys.

Tham số:

addressstring[required]

The address of the account to get proofs for

storageKeysarray[required]

Array of storage keys to generate proofs for

blockNumberstring[required]

Block number or block tag

Trả về:

resultobject

The account information with Merkle proofs

addressstring

The address of the account

accountProofarray

Array of rlp-serialized MerkleTree nodes from stateRoot to the account leaf

balancestring

The account's balance in wei (hex)

codeHashstring

Hash of the account's code (hex)

noncestring

The account's nonce (hex)

storageHashstring

Hash of the account's storage trie root (hex)

storageProofarray

Array of storage proofs for requested keys

keystring

The requested storage key

valuestring

The storage value (hex)

proofarray

Array of rlp-serialized MerkleTree nodes from storageHash to storage value

Response Example

{
	"jsonrpc": "2.0",
	"id": 1,
	"result": {
		"address": "0x6B175474E89094C44Da98b954EedeAC495271d0F",
		"accountProof": [
			"0xf90211a0...",
			"0xf90211a0...",
			"0xf90211a0...",
			"0xf90211a0...",
			"0xf90211a0...",
			"0xf90211a0...",
			"0xf90131a0..."
		],
		"balance": "0x0",
		"codeHash": "0x34eb8290afdbf2cea95f7afaefe0e2e8071e0b9a3ee4f106c8f3b6a45663e05d",
		"nonce": "0x1",
		"storageHash": "0x9588589599c2d368b2c109def4942d664838b3b681e80898fae7d2d140fe6a4c",
		"storageProof": [
			{
				"key": "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002",
				"value": "0x000000000000000000000000000000000000000001cc3c3beb2aa7ced800000",
				"proof": ["0xf90211a0...", "0xf90211a0...", "0xf90211a0...", "0xf90211a0..."]
			},
			{
				"key": "0x29ae811400000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000",
				"value": "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001",
				"proof": ["0xf90211a0...", "0xf90211a0...", "0xf90211a0...", "0xf90211a0..."]
			}
		]
	}
}

Understanding Merkle Proofs

A Merkle proof allows verification that a piece of data is part of a Merkle tree without having the entire tree. In Ethereum:

The state trie root is a 32-byte hash stored in each block
Account data is stored in the state trie, with the account address as the key
Account storage is stored in a separate storage trie, with the storage key as the key
Proofs consist of a set of nodes that allow verification from the root hash to the target data

Practical Example

// Example: Verify total supply of DAI using a proof
const ethers = require('ethers');
const RLP = require('rlp');
const { keccak256 } = ethers.utils;

async function verifyTokenSupply(tokenAddress) {
	// DAI token's totalSupply is stored at storage slot 2
	const totalSupplySlot = '0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002';

	// Get the latest block hash for reference
	const blockData = await provider.send('eth_getBlockByNumber', ['latest', false]);
	const blockHash = blockData.hash;

	// Get the proof
	const proof = await provider.send('eth_getProof', [tokenAddress, [totalSupplySlot], 'latest']);

	console.log(`Block hash: ${blockHash}`);
	console.log(`State root: ${blockData.stateRoot}`);
	console.log(`Storage hash: ${proof.storageHash}`);

	// Extract total supply from the proof
	const totalSupplyHex = proof.storageProof[0].value;
	const totalSupply = BigInt(totalSupplyHex);
	const totalSupplyDecimal = totalSupply / 10n ** 18n; // DAI has 18 decimals

	console.log(`Verified total supply: ${totalSupplyDecimal.toString()} DAI`);

	// To actually verify the proof cryptographically, we would need to:
	// 1. Verify the account proof from stateRoot to storageHash
	// 2. Verify the storage proof from storageHash to totalSupply value
	// This requires implementing Merkle-Patricia trie verification

	return {
		blockHash,
		stateRoot: blockData.stateRoot,
		storageHash: proof.storageHash,
		totalSupply: totalSupplyDecimal.toString(),
	};
}

// Usage
const daiProof = await verifyTokenSupply('0x6B175474E89094C44Da98b954EedeAC495271d0F');

Finding Storage Slots

For Solidity contracts, storage slots can be determined as follows:

Simple variables: Stored sequentially starting from slot 0
Mappings: keccak256(abi.encode(key, slot)) where slot is the position of the mapping declaration
Dynamic arrays: keccak256(slot) + index
ERC20 balances: Usually in a mapping, e.g., keccak256(abi.encode(userAddress, 3))

eth_getProof