The account state consists of four fields: nonce, balance, storage root and code hash and is described in detail here: Nonce: This is a value that is incremented every time a transaction is sent from the address.
In case of contract accounts, it represents the number of contracts created by the account.
A Complete Guide to Understanding This Blockchain Concept
Balance: This value represents the number of Weis which is the smallest unit of the currency (Ether) in Ethereum held by the address.
Storage root: This field represents the root node of a Merkle Patricia tree that encodes the storage contents of the account.
Code hash: This is an immutable field that contains the hash of the smart contract code that is associated with the account.
In the case of normal accounts, this field contains the Keccak 256-bit hash of an empty string.
The world state and its relationship with accounts trie, accounts, and block header can be visualized in the following diagram.
It shows the account data structure in the middle of the diagram, which contains a storage root hash derived from the root node of the account storage trie shown on the left.
Why This Matters for Blockchain Technology
The account data structure is then used in the world state trie, which is a mapping between addresses and account states.
Accounts trie is a Merkle Patricia tree used to encode the storage contents of an account.
The contents are stored as a mapping between Keccak 256-bit hashes of 256-bit integer keys to the RLP-encoded 256-bit integer values.
Finally, the root node of the world state trie is hashed using the Keccak 256-bit algorithm and made part of the block header data structure, which is shown on the right-hand side of the diagram as state root hash.
Key Points to Remember
- The account state The account state consists of four fields: nonce, balance, storage root and code hash and is described in detail here: Nonce: This is a value that is incremented every time a transaction is sent from the address.
- In case of contract accounts, it represents the number of contracts created by the account.
- Balance: This value represents the number of Weis which is the smallest unit of the currency (Ether) in Ethereum held by the address.
- Storage root: This field represents the root node of a Merkle Patricia tree that encodes the storage contents of the account.
Going Deeper: Advanced Concepts
Accounts trie (storage contents of account), account tuple, world state trie, and state root hash and their relationship
Conclusion
The account state represents one of the many innovative layers that make blockchain technology so powerful and transformative. As distributed systems continue to evolve, a solid understanding of these core concepts becomes increasingly valuable — not just for developers, but for anyone building, investing in, or working alongside blockchain-powered systems.
Whether you are just starting your blockchain journey or deepening existing expertise, mastering these fundamentals gives you the tools to think clearly about decentralized systems and make smarter decisions in this rapidly evolving space.