Batch Revocation (Merkle Root Update) vs Individual Revocation

Gas Efficiency: A single on-chain transaction revokes thousands of credentials. This matters for protocols like Worldcoin or Gitcoin Passport managing millions of users, where per-user gas costs are prohibitive.

Scalability: Ideal for high-frequency, large-scale credential issuance where the revocation list is expected to grow predictably (e.g., weekly batch updates).

Verifier Complexity & Latency: Verifiers must fetch the latest root and check inclusion proofs. This adds off-chain dependency and latency, unsuitable for real-time, high-stakes checks like DeFi KYC.

Revocation Granularity: Cannot revoke a single credential without affecting all others in the batch, forcing a full state update for any change.

Real-Time Precision: Each credential's status (e.g., isRevoked) is stored and updated individually on-chain (Ethereum Attestation Service, Verax). This matters for high-value NFTs, legal attestations, or soulbound tokens where revocation must be instant and atomic.

Simplified Verification: Verifier checks a single, on-chain state variable, eliminating the need for proof aggregation and external root feeds.

Prohibitive Cost at Scale: Revoking 10,000 credentials requires 10,000 transactions. This is financially impossible for mass-market applications, making it a non-starter for consumer-grade identity systems.

State Bloat: Each credential permanently consumes on-chain storage (e.g., contract storage slot), increasing long-term costs and blockchain bloat compared to a single, updatable Merkle root.

Radical gas efficiency for mass updates: A single on-chain transaction updates the root for thousands of credentials. This reduces per-user revocation cost to near-zero, critical for protocols like ERC-4337 paymasters or airdrops managing large, volatile permission sets.

Inherent latency for individual actions: A user's revocation isn't effective until the next root is published. This creates a time-lag vulnerability window, unsuitable for high-stakes, real-time systems like decentralized exchanges freezing compromised accounts.

Immediate, granular control: Each credential (e.g., an ERC-20 permit or ERC-721 approval) is revoked in a dedicated transaction. This provides instant finality, essential for DeFi security modules or NFT marketplace operators responding to hacks.

Prohibitive cost at scale: Revoking 10,000 credentials requires 10,000 transactions. At 50 gwei gas, this can cost over $10,000+ on Ethereum Mainnet, making it impractical for consumer apps with large, dynamic user lists.

Low On-Chain Cost & Gas Efficiency: Updating a single Merkle root (e.g., on Ethereum or Polygon) can revoke thousands of credentials in one transaction. This is critical for high-volume issuers like educational institutions or DAOs managing 10k+ SBTs, where per-revocation fees are prohibitive.

Latency & Inflexibility: Revocations are batched and periodic, not real-time. A compromised key may remain valid until the next root update. This is a poor fit for high-security, real-time systems like access control or financial credentials where immediate revocation is non-negotiable.

Immediate & Granular Control: Each credential (e.g., an Ethereum Attestation Service attestation or a Solana compressed NFT) can be revoked instantly via a direct on-chain transaction. Essential for dynamic, high-stakes environments like asset tokenization or enterprise access tokens where status must reflect real-time state.

High & Unpredictable Cost: Each revocation is a separate on-chain transaction. On networks like Ethereum Mainnet, this can cost $10+ per credential, making it economically unfeasible for mass-scale consumer applications (e.g., event tickets, loyalty points) where revocation events are frequent.