Add EIP: Ethereum state using a unified binary tree

[jsign]

This PR proposes using a binary tree for the blockchain state.

This proposal is a potential alternative to EIP-6800 (Verkle trees), motivated by:

• Recent concerns about requiring post-quantum security sooner than expected. Relying on a hash-based state tree is the main alternative to elliptic curves used in EIP-6800.
• Proving systems for SNARKifying L1 keep improving at a good pace, getting closer to what is required by L1 state proofs. There's ongoing research and tracking of multiple proof systems to determine the best option.

See more of the rationale behind this EIP in the discussion thread link.

[eth-bot]

✅ All reviewers have approved.

[tynes]

Having a proof verify precompile for the new state scheme would be super helpful and save the need to implement it in solidity for L2 bridges

[jsign]

Having a proof verify precompile for the new state scheme would be super helpful and save the need to implement it in solidity for L2 bridges

@tynes, thanks for mentioning it! We have discussed that a couple of times in previous stateless calls (last year or the year before), motivated mainly by abstracting away state proof from the underlying tree. The discussion was around Verkle since doing Verkle state-proof verifications in solidity would be pretty hairy due to the EC crypto stack.

Although I doubt we will make multiple tree changes in the future, having a precompile to make the L1 state-proof verification more efficient and secure, is a good argument to eventually reignite the discussion.

[gballet]

@tynes We already have 7545 for this purpose, which is designed to verify all sort of stateless proofs. Former proponents of this approach invariably change their minds about it, so there is a significant burden of proof on the next proponent for this effort to be revived.

[jsign]

@Marchhill, thanks for the detailed review!

[github-actions]

The commit bac023e (as a parent of 63222cb) contains errors.
Please inspect the Run Summary for details.

[eth-bot]

All Reviewers Have Approved; Performing Automatic Merge...

[eth-bot]

All Reviewers Have Approved; Performing Automatic Merge...