Ethereum Transaction Flow
Here's a comprehensive breakdown of what happens when a transaction traverses Ethereum's network:
Initial Phase: User to Network
Transaction Creation: User cryptographically signs a transaction using their private key, creating a secure data structure that includes nonce, gas limits, recipient address, ETH value, and optional data payload.
Network Propagation: The signed transaction enters Ethereum's P2P network through gossip protocol, where each node shares it with ~50-100 peers to achieve exponential network coverage within seconds.
Mempool Inclusion: Nodes validate the transaction's structure, signature, nonce, and gas parameters before adding it to their local mempool, where it's prioritized by gas price and awaits selection for a block.
Consensus Layer Operations