A Merkle tree, also known as a binary hash tree, is a data structure that is used to efficiently and securely verify the integrity of large sets of data. It is named after Ralph Merkle, who first published the concept in the 1970s. Here's how a Merkle tree works: 1. **Leaf Nodes**: Data is divided into chunks, and each chunk is hashed using a cryptographic hash function (like SHA-256).
