# Nodes

The Arithmic Network has multiple types of nodes:

* **Archival node:** The state of the users in Arithmic is stored as a Merkle Patricia Trie. The archival node stores the state of the users from the network’s genesis. They also store all the transactions executed at L2 from the genesis.<br>
* **Sequencer**: These nodes take part in the stake-based consensus to agree upon the next set of transactions to be executed, and together, update the state of users in the network. In particular, they select and execute the next block of smart contracts/transactions.<br>
* **Validators:** They aid the consensus process by validating the updated state produced by the next block of transactions selected by the sequencer nodes.<br>
* **Prover Nodes:** The Arithmic Network has three types of provers: a) a base prover that aggregates smart contract executions executed at L2, b) a recursive prover that aggregates proofs computed by the base provers, and other recursive provers, and c) a crest prover that aggregates the proof computed by a recursive prover, and calls the verifier at L1.


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