Library · Crypto, word by word · Inside Ethereum
What is an execution client?
An execution client is the software in an Ethereum node that handles transactions: it hears new ones, runs them in the EVM, and keeps the current state of every account and contract. Since the Merge it works alongside a consensus client, which decides which blocks to follow.
What it means for you
When a wallet shows a balance or sends a transaction, it asks some execution client, yours or a provider's. Using someone else's node means sharing your addresses and balances with them and trusting their answers; your own node checks every block and transaction against the rules itself.
How it works
The execution client listens for transactions broadcast on the peer-to-peer network, executes them in the EVM, and holds the state database. When its validator is chosen to propose, it bundles transactions into an execution payload, which the consensus client wraps in a beacon block. A full node must run both clients together. Several independent execution clients exist, written by different teams in languages such as Go, C#, Java and Rust, so the network does not depend on a single codebase.
Sources: ethereum.org: Nodes and clients, ethereum.org: Proof-of-stake · checked 4 October 2026
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