A Heimdall node is a validator node that is integrated with Polygon’s Ethereum-based staking contract system to enable Polygon’s Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism. This capability was achieved by modifying the signature scheme and specific data structures on top of the Tendermint consensus engine. The Heimdall nodes are in charge of block validation, block producer committee selection, and the checkpointing of Polygon’s sidechain blocks to the Ethereum network. The Heimdall layer groups blocks produced by Bor nodes into a Merkle tree and sequentially publishes the Merkle root to the Polygon root chain (one of the Polygon sidechains).
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