# <center><i class="fa fa-edit"></i> 1.2 Hash Pointer and Data Structures </center> ###### tags: `Blockchain` The following notes are taken from [Coursera](https://www.coursera.org/learn/cryptocurrency/home/week/2) --- ### Hash Pointer - Pointer to where some info is stores - Cryptographic hash of info - Ask to get info back - Verify info has not changed ### Linked List with Hash Pointers (Blockchain) ![](https://i.imgur.com/EE2iTTq.png) - tamper-evident because of the head or `H()` ### Binary Tree with Hash Pointers (Merkle Tree) ![](https://i.imgur.com/LB8ZJck.jpg) - Show O(log n) items to verify the tree - log n is usually time/space - Variant: Sorted Merkle Tree - Can verify non-membership - Show consecutive bocks where member is supposed to be in between the two :::success Generally: can use hash pointers in any pointer based data structure that has **no cycles** :::