Blocks & Transactions

Each Atto account has its own ordered chain. A block describes one state transition on that chain; a transaction adds the account signature and anti-spam work needed to submit it.

Block	What changes	Serialized size
OPEN	Creates an account from a receivable and selects a representative	119 bytes
RECEIVE	Claims a later receivable	126 bytes
SEND	Lowers the sender balance and creates a receivable	134 bytes
CHANGE	Selects a new representative without moving funds	126 bytes

The visual maps below use zero-based half-open ranges: [5, 37) starts at byte 5 and stops before byte 37. This convention makes the range length simply 37 - 5 = 32 bytes.

Loading browser tools…

Validation is layered

Parsing proves that the representation has the expected shape. Block validation checks protocol invariants. Full transaction validation additionally checks the signature and work. None of these tools checks whether a transaction is confirmed or publishable against current account state.