That is a good observation that most of the historical data does not need to be kept around. I believe what you are suggested is already implemented, however. Bitcoin Core can operate in a pruned mode, where the bulk of the historical block data is discarded and only the current UTXO set (and a few recent blocks) are kept. As you note, some nodes on the network need to run in archive mode to help new nodes get in sync. BIP 159 helps identify these archive nodes at the gossip layer.
In the case of lightning, some implementations made use of the additional txindex, which is not compatible with pruned mode. On Wed, May 9, 2018 at 5:56 PM, Segue via bitcoin-dev < bitcoin-dev@lists.linuxfoundation.org> wrote: > On 3/17/18, someone posted on the Lightning-dev list, "Can I try Lightning > without running a fully-fledged bitcoin block chain? (Yubin Ruan)." The > inquirer was asking because he didn't have much space to store the entire > blockchain on his laptop. > > I replied: > > "Developers, > > On THIS note and slightly off-topic but relevant, why can't chunks of > blockchain peel off the backend periodically and be archived, say on > minimum of 150 computers across 7 continents? > > It seems crazy to continue adding on to an increasingly long chain to > infinity if the old chapters (i.e. more than, say, 2 years old) could be > stored in an evenly distributed manner across the planet. The same 150 > computers would not need to store every chapter either, just the index > would need to be widely distributed in order to reconnect with a chapter if > needed. Then maybe it is no longer a limitation in the future for people > like Yubin. " > > It was suggested by a couple of lightning developers that I post this idea > on the bitcoin-dev list. So, here I post :). > > Segue > > > > > _______________________________________________ > bitcoin-dev mailing list > bitcoin-dev@lists.linuxfoundation.org > https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/bitcoin-dev >
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