Nethereum.Model

Core Ethereum data models representing transactions, blocks, accounts, and cryptographic signatures.

Overview

Nethereum.Model is a foundational package that defines the core data structures used throughout the Ethereum protocol. These models represent:

• Transaction Types: Support for Legacy, EIP-2930, EIP-1559, and EIP-7702 transactions
• Block Headers: Ethereum block header structure with all consensus fields
• Account State: Account nonce, balance, storage root, and code hash
• Signatures: ECDSA signature components (R, S, V) for transaction verification
• Event Logs: Smart contract event data structures

This package provides the canonical implementation of Ethereum data structures with built-in RLP encoding/decoding support.

Installation

dotnet add package Nethereum.Model

Dependencies

Nethereum Dependencies:

• Nethereum.RLP - Recursive Length Prefix encoding/decoding
• Nethereum.Util - Keccak-256 hashing, address utilities, unit conversion

Key Concepts

Transaction Types

Ethereum has evolved to support multiple transaction formats:

• Legacy Transactions (LegacyTransaction): Original transaction format (pre-EIP-155)
• Legacy with Chain ID (LegacyTransactionChainId): EIP-155 transactions preventing replay attacks
• EIP-2930 (Transaction2930): Transactions with access lists for gas optimization
• EIP-1559 (Transaction1559): Fee market transactions with base fee and priority fee
• EIP-7702 (Transaction7702): Account abstraction with authorization lists

RLP Encoding

All models implement RLP (Recursive Length Prefix) encoding, the serialization format used by Ethereum for:

• Transmitting transactions over the network
• Computing cryptographic hashes (transaction hash, block hash)
• Storing data in the Ethereum state trie

Signatures

Ethereum uses ECDSA signatures with three components:

• R: X-coordinate of the random point on the elliptic curve
• S: Signature proof value
• V: Recovery identifier (allows deriving the public key from the signature)

Chain Identification

The Chain enum provides constants for major Ethereum networks (MainNet, Sepolia, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, etc.) and is used with EIP-155 to prevent cross-chain replay attacks.

Quick Start

using Nethereum.Model; using System.Numerics; // Create a simple EIP-1559 transaction var transaction = new Transaction1559( chainId: 1, // Ethereum Mainnet nonce: 0, maxPriorityFeePerGas: BigInteger.Parse("2000000000"), // 2 gwei maxFeePerGas: BigInteger.Parse("100000000000"), // 100 gwei gasLimit: 21000, receiverAddress: "0x742d35Cc6634C0532925a3b844Bc9e7595f0bEb", amount: BigInteger.Parse("1000000000000000000"), // 1 ETH data: "", accessList: null );

Usage Examples

Example 1: Creating a Legacy Transaction

using Nethereum.Model; using System.Numerics; // Create a legacy transaction (most common pre-2021) var legacyTx = new LegacyTransaction( to: "0x13978aee95f38490e9769c39b2773ed763d9cd5f", amount: new BigInteger(10000000000000000L), // 0.01 ETH nonce: 0, gasPrice: new BigInteger(1000000000000L), // 1000 gwei gasLimit: 10000 ); // Transaction is ready to be signed with Nethereum.Signer

Source: tests/Nethereum.Signer.UnitTests/TransactionTests.cs

Example 2: Decoding a Signed Transaction from RLP

using Nethereum.Model; using Nethereum.Hex.HexConvertors.Extensions; // RLP-encoded signed transaction (typically from network or storage) var rlpHex = "f86b8085e8d4a510008227109413978aee95f38490e9769c39b2773ed763d9cd5f872386f26fc10000801ba0eab47c1a49bf2fe5d40e01d313900e19ca485867d462fe06e139e3a536c6d4f4a014a569d327dcda4b29f74f93c0e9729d2f49ad726e703f9cd90dbb0fbf6649f1"; // Decode the transaction var tx = new LegacyTransaction(rlpHex.HexToByteArray()); // Access transaction properties var nonce = tx.Nonce.ToBigIntegerFromRLPDecoded(); var gasPrice = tx.GasPrice.ToBigIntegerFromRLPDecoded(); var value = tx.Value.ToBigIntegerFromRLPDecoded(); var to = tx.ReceiveAddress.ToHex(); // Access signature components var v = tx.Signature.V[0]; // 27 or 28 for legacy transactions var r = tx.Signature.R.ToHex(); var s = tx.Signature.S.ToHex();

Source: tests/Nethereum.Signer.UnitTests/TransactionTests.cs

Example 3: Using TransactionFactory to Decode Any Transaction Type

using Nethereum.Model; // TransactionFactory automatically detects transaction type var rlpEncoded = GetTransactionFromNetwork(); // byte[] from RPC or P2P ISignedTransaction transaction = TransactionFactory.CreateTransaction(rlpEncoded); // Check the transaction type switch (transaction.TransactionType) { case TransactionType.LegacyTransaction: var legacy = (LegacyTransaction)transaction; // Handle legacy transaction break; case TransactionType.EIP1559: var eip1559 = (Transaction1559)transaction; var maxFeePerGas = eip1559.MaxFeePerGas; var maxPriorityFee = eip1559.MaxPriorityFeePerGas; break; case TransactionType.LegacyEIP2930: var eip2930 = (Transaction2930)transaction; var accessList = eip2930.AccessList; break; case TransactionType.EIP7702: var eip7702 = (Transaction7702)transaction; var authList = eip7702.AuthorisationList; break; }

Source: src/Nethereum.Model/TransactionFactory.cs

Example 4: Creating an EIP-1559 Transaction with Access List

using Nethereum.Model; using System.Numerics; using System.Collections.Generic; // Create an access list (EIP-2930) to reduce gas costs var accessList = new List<AccessListItem> { new AccessListItem( address: "0x742d35Cc6634C0532925a3b844Bc9e7595f0bEb", storageKeys: new List<byte[]> { "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001".HexToByteArray() } ) }; // Create an EIP-1559 transaction var tx1559 = new Transaction1559( chainId: (BigInteger)Chain.MainNet, nonce: 42, maxPriorityFeePerGas: new BigInteger(2_000_000_000), // 2 gwei tip maxFeePerGas: new BigInteger(100_000_000_000), // 100 gwei max gasLimit: 100_000, receiverAddress: "0x742d35Cc6634C0532925a3b844Bc9e7595f0bEb", amount: BigInteger.Parse("5000000000000000000"), // 5 ETH data: "0x", accessList: accessList ); // Get RLP encoding for signing var rlpForSigning = tx1559.GetRLPEncodedRaw();

Source: src/Nethereum.Model/Transaction1559.cs, src/Nethereum.Model/AccessListItem.cs

Example 5: Working with Ethereum Account State

using Nethereum.Model; using System.Numerics; // Create an account state object (as stored in the Ethereum state trie) var account = new Account { Nonce = 42, // Number of transactions sent from this address Balance = BigInteger.Parse("5000000000000000000000"), // 5000 ETH in wei StateRoot = stateRootHash, // Root of the account's storage trie CodeHash = contractCodeHash // Keccak-256 hash of the contract bytecode }; // For EOA (Externally Owned Accounts), defaults are used: var eoa = new Account { Nonce = 0, Balance = BigInteger.Parse("1000000000000000000"), // 1 ETH StateRoot = DefaultValues.EMPTY_TRIE_HASH, // Empty storage CodeHash = DefaultValues.EMPTY_DATA_HASH // No code };

Source: src/Nethereum.Model/Account.cs

Example 6: Creating Event Logs

using Nethereum.Model; using Nethereum.Hex.HexConvertors.Extensions; // Create an event log (emitted by smart contracts) var eventData = "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000de0b6b3a7640000".HexToByteArray(); var topic1 = "0xddf252ad1be2c89b69c2b068fc378daa952ba7f163c4a11628f55a4df523b3ef".HexToByteArray(); // Transfer event signature var topic2 = "0x000000000000000000000000742d35cc6634c0532925a3b844bc9e7595f0beb".HexToByteArray(); // From address var topic3 = "0x00000000000000000000000088e6a0c2ddd26feeb64f039a2c41296fcb3f5640".HexToByteArray(); // To address var log = Log.Create( data: eventData, address: "0xA0b86991c6218b36c1d19D4a2e9Eb0cE3606eB48", // Contract address topics: new[] { topic1, topic2, topic3 } ); // Or create log without data var logWithoutData = Log.Create( address: "0xA0b86991c6218b36c1d19D4a2e9Eb0cE3606eB48", topics: topic1, topic2, topic3 );

Source: src/Nethereum.Model/Log.cs

Example 7: Working with Block Headers

using Nethereum.Model; using System.Numerics; // Construct a block header var blockHeader = new BlockHeader { ParentHash = parentBlockHash, UnclesHash = unclesHash, Coinbase = "0x1f9090aaE28b8a3dCeaDf281B0F12828e676c326", // Miner address StateRoot = stateRoot, TransactionsHash = transactionsTrieRoot, ReceiptHash = receiptsTrieRoot, BlockNumber = 18_000_000, LogsBloom = logsBloomFilter, Difficulty = 0, // Post-merge (PoS) difficulty is always 0 Timestamp = DateTimeOffset.UtcNow.ToUnixTimeSeconds(), GasLimit = 30_000_000, GasUsed = 12_543_210, MixHash = mixHash, ExtraData = extraData, Nonce = nonce, BaseFee = new BigInteger(15_000_000_000) // EIP-1559 base fee }; // Encode the block header for hashing var encoded = BlockHeaderEncoder.Current.EncodeHeader(blockHeader);

Source: src/Nethereum.Model/BlockHeader.cs

Example 8: Creating Transactions for Different Networks

using Nethereum.Model; using Nethereum.Signer; using System.Numerics; // Ethereum Mainnet transaction var mainnetTx = new Transaction1559( chainId: (BigInteger)Chain.MainNet, // 1 nonce: 0, maxPriorityFeePerGas: new BigInteger(2_000_000_000), maxFeePerGas: new BigInteger(50_000_000_000), gasLimit: 21000, receiverAddress: "0x742d35Cc6634C0532925a3b844Bc9e7595f0bEb", amount: BigInteger.Parse("1000000000000000000"), data: "", accessList: null ); // Polygon transaction (lower gas fees) var polygonTx = new Transaction1559( chainId: (BigInteger)Chain.Polygon, // 137 nonce: 0, maxPriorityFeePerGas: new BigInteger(30_000_000_000), // 30 gwei maxFeePerGas: new BigInteger(200_000_000_000), // 200 gwei gasLimit: 21000, receiverAddress: "0x742d35Cc6634C0532925a3b844Bc9e7595f0bEb", amount: BigInteger.Parse("1000000000000000000"), data: "", accessList: null ); // Base L2 transaction var baseTx = new Transaction1559( chainId: (BigInteger)Chain.Base, // 8453 nonce: 0, maxPriorityFeePerGas: new BigInteger(100_000), // Very low on L2 maxFeePerGas: new BigInteger(1_000_000), gasLimit: 21000, receiverAddress: "0x742d35Cc6634C0532925a3b844Bc9e7595f0bEb", amount: BigInteger.Parse("1000000000000000000"), data: "", accessList: null );

Source: Chain.cs enum values

Example 9: Account Storage Encoding

using Nethereum.Model; using Nethereum.Util.HashProviders; using Nethereum.Hex.HexConvertors.Extensions; var sha3Provider = new Sha3KeccackHashProvider(); // Encode a storage key for the state trie var storageKey = "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001".HexToByteArray(); var encodedKey = AccountStorage.EncodeKeyForStorage(storageKey, sha3Provider); // Encode a storage value var storageValue = "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000de0b6b3a7640000".HexToByteArray(); var encodedValue = AccountStorage.EncodeValueForStorage(storageValue); // These encoded values are used in the Patricia Merkle Trie

Source: src/Nethereum.Model/Account.cs

API Reference

Transaction Types

TransactionType Enum

• LegacyTransaction (-1): Pre-EIP-155 transactions
• LegacyChainTransaction (-2): EIP-155 transactions with chain ID
• LegacyEIP2930 (0x01): Transactions with access lists
• EIP1559 (0x02): Fee market transactions
• EIP7702 (0x04): Account abstraction with authorization

LegacyTransaction

Pre-EIP-155 transaction format with basic fields.

Key Properties:

• byte[] Nonce: Transaction sequence number
• byte[] GasPrice: Gas price in wei
• byte[] GasLimit: Maximum gas units
• byte[] ReceiveAddress: Recipient address
• byte[] Value: Amount in wei
• byte[] Data: Contract call data or deployment code
• Signature Signature: Transaction signature (R, S, V)

Key Methods:

• byte[] GetRLPEncoded(): Get signed transaction RLP encoding
• EthECKey GetKey(): Recover signer's public key from signature

LegacyTransactionChainId

EIP-155 transaction with chain ID to prevent replay attacks.

Inherits from LegacyTransaction with added chain ID in V signature component.

Transaction1559

EIP-1559 fee market transaction.

Key Properties:

• BigInteger ChainId: Network chain identifier
• BigInteger? Nonce: Transaction sequence number
• BigInteger? MaxPriorityFeePerGas: Miner tip
• BigInteger? MaxFeePerGas: Maximum total fee per gas
• BigInteger? GasLimit: Gas limit
• string ReceiverAddress: Recipient
• BigInteger? Amount: Value to transfer
• string Data: Call data
• List<AccessListItem> AccessList: Optional access list

Key Methods:

• byte[] GetRLPEncoded(): Get complete RLP-encoded transaction
• byte[] GetRLPEncodedRaw(): Get RLP encoding for signing (without signature)

Transaction2930

EIP-2930 transaction with access list.

Similar structure to Transaction1559 but uses GasPrice instead of base/priority fees.

Transaction7702

EIP-7702 account abstraction transaction.

Extends Transaction1559 with:

• List<Authorisation7702Signed> AuthorisationList: Signed authorizations

TransactionFactory

Factory class for creating and decoding transactions.

Key Methods:

• static ISignedTransaction CreateTransaction(byte[] rlp): Automatically detects and decodes any transaction type
• static ISignedTransaction CreateTransaction(string rlpHex): Hex string overload
• static ISignedTransaction Create1559Transaction(...): Create EIP-1559 transaction
• static ISignedTransaction Create2930Transaction(...): Create EIP-2930 transaction
• static ISignedTransaction Create7702Transaction(...): Create EIP-7702 transaction
• static ISignedTransaction CreateLegacyTransaction(...): Create legacy transaction

Block Models

BlockHeader

Ethereum block header structure.

Properties:

• byte[] ParentHash: Hash of parent block
• byte[] UnclesHash: Hash of uncle blocks list
• string Coinbase: Miner/validator address
• byte[] StateRoot: State trie root hash
• byte[] TransactionsHash: Transactions trie root hash
• byte[] ReceiptHash: Receipts trie root hash
• BigInteger BlockNumber: Block height
• byte[] LogsBloom: Bloom filter for logs
• BigInteger Difficulty: Mining difficulty (0 post-merge)
• long Timestamp: Block timestamp (Unix seconds)
• long GasLimit: Maximum gas for block
• long GasUsed: Total gas used in block
• byte[] MixHash: PoW mix hash (random post-merge)
• byte[] ExtraData: Arbitrary extra data
• byte[] Nonce: PoW nonce (0 post-merge)
• BigInteger? BaseFee: EIP-1559 base fee per gas

BlockHeaderEncoder

RLP encoder/decoder for block headers.

Methods:

• byte[] EncodeHeader(BlockHeader header): Encode block header to RLP
• BlockHeader DecodeHeader(byte[] rlp): Decode RLP to block header

Account Models

Account

Ethereum account state.

Properties:

• BigInteger Nonce: Transaction count or contract creation count
• BigInteger Balance: Account balance in wei
• byte[] StateRoot: Storage trie root (default: empty trie hash)
• byte[] CodeHash: Contract code hash (default: empty data hash)

AccountStorage

Utilities for encoding account storage.

Methods:

• static byte[] EncodeKeyForStorage(byte[] key, Sha3KeccackHashProvider): Encode storage key
• static byte[] EncodeValueForStorage(byte[] value): Encode storage value

Signature Models

Signature : ISignature

ECDSA signature components.

Properties:

• byte[] R: Signature R component
• byte[] S: Signature S component
• byte[] V: Recovery identifier

Constructors:

• Signature(): Default constructor
• Signature(byte[] r, byte[] s, byte[] v): Create with components

SignatureExtensions

Extension methods for signature operations.

Key Methods:

• bool IsVSignedForChain(this Signature): Check if V indicates chain-specific signature
• BigInteger GetChainFromVChain(BigInteger v): Extract chain ID from V

Event Log Models

Log

Smart contract event log.

Properties:

• string Address: Contract address that emitted the log
• byte[] Data: Non-indexed event data
• List<byte[]> Topics: Indexed event topics (event signature + indexed parameters)

Static Methods:

• static Log Create(byte[] data, string address, params byte[][] topics): Create log with data
• static Log Create(string address, params byte[][] topics): Create log without data

LogBloomFilter

Bloom filter for efficient log filtering.

Access List Models

AccessListItem

EIP-2930 access list entry.

Properties:

• string Address: Contract address
• List<byte[]> StorageKeys: Storage slots to pre-warm

Constructors:

• AccessListItem(): Default constructor
• AccessListItem(string address, List<byte[]> storageKeys): Create with values

AccessListRLPEncoderDecoder

RLP encoder/decoder for access lists.

Authorization Models (EIP-7702)

Authorisation7702Signed

Signed authorization for account abstraction.

Properties:

• Authorization details for delegated transaction execution

AuthorisationListRLPEncoderDecoder

RLP encoder/decoder for authorization lists.

Enumerations

Chain

Well-known Ethereum network chain IDs.

Common Values:

• MainNet = 1: Ethereum Mainnet
• Sepolia = 11155111: Sepolia testnet
• Polygon = 137: Polygon PoS
• Arbitrum = 42161: Arbitrum One
• Optimism = 10: Optimism
• Base = 8453: Base L2
• Avalanche = 43114: Avalanche C-Chain
• Binance = 56: BNB Chain

See Chain.cs for the complete list of 100+ networks

Utility Classes

DefaultValues

Default constant values used throughout the package.

Constants:

• EMPTY_BYTE_ARRAY: Empty byte array
• EMPTY_TRIE_HASH: Keccak-256 of empty trie
• EMPTY_DATA_HASH: Keccak-256 of empty data

VRecoveryAndChainCalculations

Utilities for signature V value and chain ID calculations.

Methods:

• static BigInteger GetChainFromVChain(BigInteger vChain): Extract chain ID from V
• V value encoding/decoding for EIP-155

Related Packages

Used By (Consumers)

• Nethereum.Signer - Signs transactions using the transaction models defined here
• Nethereum.RPC - RPC methods return block headers, transactions, and logs
• Nethereum.Contracts - Contract deployment and interaction uses transaction models
• Nethereum.Accounts - Account management uses transaction types for sending
• Nethereum.BlockchainProcessing - Processes blocks, transactions, and logs

Dependencies

• Nethereum.RLP - All models use RLP encoding for serialization
• Nethereum.Util - Uses Keccak-256 hashing, address validation, and byte conversions

Important Notes

Transaction Type Detection

When decoding transactions from RLP:

• The first byte determines if it's a typed transaction (0x00-0x7F) or legacy (≥0xC0)
• TransactionFactory.CreateTransaction() automatically detects the type
• Legacy transactions are identified by their RLP list structure

V Signature Component

The V value in signatures serves dual purposes:

• Recovery ID: Allows deriving the public key (and address) from the signature
• Chain ID (EIP-155): For legacy transactions, V encodes chain ID as V = CHAIN_ID * 2 + 35 + {0,1}
• For typed transactions (EIP-2930, EIP-1559, EIP-7702), V is simply 0 or 1

Gas Pricing Models

Different transaction types use different gas pricing:

• Legacy & EIP-2930: Single gasPrice (user pays gasPrice × gasUsed)
• EIP-1559+: maxFeePerGas and maxPriorityFeePerGas
  • Actual fee = min(maxFeePerGas, baseFee + maxPriorityFeePerGas) × gasUsed
  • BaseFee is burned, priority fee goes to validator

Chain ID Usage

Always specify the correct chain ID to prevent:

• Replay attacks: Same transaction valid on multiple chains (e.g., mainnet and testnet)
• Lost funds: Sending to wrong network addresses

RLP Encoding for Signing vs. Transmission

Transactions have two RLP encodings:

• Raw encoding (GetRLPEncodedRaw()): Unsigned, used for signing
• Full encoding (GetRLPEncoded()): Includes signature, used for transmission

Block Header Post-Merge Changes

After Ethereum's transition to Proof-of-Stake (The Merge):

• Difficulty is always 0
• Nonce is 0 (no longer used for mining)
• MixHash contains randomness from the beacon chain
• Coinbase is the fee recipient (validator or pool)

Account State Storage

Account state is stored in a Patricia Merkle Trie:

• StateRoot: Root hash of the account's storage trie
• CodeHash: Keccak-256 of contract bytecode (empty hash for EOAs)
• These hashes allow verification without storing full state

Additional Resources

Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs)

• EIP-155: Simple replay attack protection (chain ID)
• EIP-2718: Typed transaction envelope
• EIP-2930: Optional access lists
• EIP-1559: Fee market change (base fee + priority fee)
• EIP-7702: Set EOA account code for one transaction

Ethereum Protocol

• Ethereum Yellow Paper: Section 4.1 (Account State), Section 4.3 (Transactions)
• RLP Encoding Specification
• Ethereum.org - Transactions
• Ethereum.org - Blocks

Nethereum Documentation

• Nethereum Documentation
• Transaction Signing Guide
• Nethereum GitHub