World State

In Ethereum, the world state is the state of the entire Ethereum blockchain at a particular point in time. It is a snapshot of all the account balances, smart contract code, and storage data across the entire blockchain. The world state is represented as a Merkle Patricia tree, where each node in the tree represents a key-value pair.

The world state is updated with each transaction that occurs on the Ethereum network. When a transaction is executed, it updates the world state by modifying the account balances or the state of a smart contract. The updated world state is then stored as a new block on the blockchain.

The world state is used to determine the current state of an account or smart contract at any point in time. This is important for validating transactions and executing smart contracts, as the state of the world determines the outcome of any transaction or contract execution.

Overall, the world state is a crucial component of the Ethereum blockchain, as it allows for the decentralized execution of smart contracts and the storage and transfer of value across the network.