1978: Crypto Roots and Merkle Trees - Throwback Thursday, Part 1
The hash tree, also commonly referred to as the "Merkle Tree" refers to a data structure patented by Dr. Merkle in 1979. Building off previous work in public key cryptosystems, Merkle was searching for a method of securely obtaining digital signatures. Merkle Trees are utilized today by Bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies to record transactions.