Definition
The account model is a mechanism used by some blockchains to represent and update the global state through accounts rather than individual coins or outputs. In this model, each account maintains a balance and may also store additional data, such as nonce values or smart contract code and storage. Transactions modify the state by directly changing the balances and data associated with these accounts. This contrasts with designs that treat value as discrete, spendable outputs instead of continuously updated account records.
Under the account model, an Account is the primary unit of ownership and state, identified by an address and associated with a mutable record on the blockchain. The model defines how these account records are structured, validated, and updated when new blocks are added. It provides a framework for tracking on-chain value and state transitions in a way that supports features like smart contracts and complex stateful applications. The account model is therefore a foundational mechanism for how certain blockchains organize and manage their ledger.
Context and Usage
The account model is closely tied to how a blockchain interprets and verifies transactions at the protocol level. Because it aggregates balances and state per Account, it offers a direct view of each participant’s on-chain holdings and contract state at any given block height. This structure influences how nodes store data, how they compute state transitions, and how they detect issues like replayed or invalid transactions.
As a mechanism, the account model also shapes how smart contracts and decentralized applications are represented on-chain. Contract logic and storage are typically bound to special types of accounts, which the model treats as part of the same unified state space as regular user accounts. By defining accounts as the central abstraction for value and data, the account model provides a coherent way to reason about ownership, permissions, and state changes across the entire blockchain.