{"id":"merkle-hashes-over-hex-not-bytes","text":"Internal node hashes are computed over concatenated 64-char hex digest strings (128 ASCII bytes) rather than raw 32-byte SHA-256 digests, resulting in 4x more data per hash input.","truth_value":"IN","source":"entries/2026/05/29/merkle-tree-merkle_tree-verify_proof.md","source_url":"","source_hash":"","justifications":[],"dependents":[],"metadata":{},"explanation":{"steps":[{"node":"merkle-hashes-over-hex-not-bytes","truth_value":"IN","reason":"premise"}]}}