4

Recently I have heard about zero balance accounts with a nonce of zero appearing on the blockchain.

My understanding is that any account that has been used in a transaction must have a nonce greater than zero. This would include zero balance addresses that have received funds and were later emptied.

How can accounts with a nonce of zero appear on the blockchain?

Improve this question
1
  • 1
    The question is accurate but for clarity, an account's nonce is only incremented when it originates a transaction. When the account is a receiver, its nonce doesn't change.
    – eth ♦
    Nov 19, 2016 at 8:19

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
3

When you send a zero value transaction to an account that does not exist. The same works for zero value creates (both through transactions and the CREATE opcode) as well as CALLing in to an account that does not exist.

This is a mistake, a flaw in the protocol. One we want to fix in the next upcoming hardfork.

Improve this answer
1
  • 2
    Would you be able to expound or shed more light about the flaw or flaws and challenges here? Thanks.
    – eth ♦
    Nov 19, 2016 at 7:55

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.