Merkle Tree Implementation Using BLAKE3

The implementation allows users to generate a Merkle Tree from a set of data inputs, compute the Merkle root, and display it in a human-readable hexadecimal format.

Features

• Efficient Merkle Tree Construction: Builds a Merkle Tree from a list of input data.
• BLAKE3 Hashing: Utilizes the high-performance and secure BLAKE3 hashing algorithm.
• Hexadecimal Representation: Displays the Merkle root in a readable hex format.
• Dynamic Depth Calculation: Automatically calculates the depth of the tree.

Why use of BLAKE3

• Speed: BLAKE3 is faster than traditional algorithms like SHA-2.
• Parallelism: Ideal for modern multi-core systems.
• Security: Provides cryptographic security suitable for Merkle Trees.

Requirements

To run this project, ensure you have the following:

• Rust (latest stable version)
• Cargo (comes with Rust)

Dependencies

The project uses the following Rust crates:

• blake3: For hashing data using the BLAKE3 algorithm.
• hex: For encoding hash outputs into hexadecimal strings.

Add these dependencies to your Cargo.toml file:

[dependencies]
blake3 = "1.3"
hex = "0.4"

Clone the Repository

git clone <repository_url>
cd <repository_folder>

Build the Project

Use Cargo to build the project:

cargo build

Run the Project

Run the project using Cargo:

cargo run

Example Output

When running the project with sample data (["a", "b", "c", "d"]), you should see:

Merkle Tree: Merkle Root: <hexadecimal hash value>

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! If you encounter issues or have suggestions, please open an issue or submit a pull request.