====== Light Ethereum Subprotocol (LES) ======
[[dido:public:ra:xapend:xapend.a_glossary:start| Return to Glossary ]]

The **Light Ethereum Subprotocol (LES)** is the [[dido:public:ra:xapend:xapend.a_glossary:p:protocol]] used by "light" client (or [[dido:public:ra:1.2_views:3_taxonomic:3_node_tax:lite]]) [[dido:public:ra:1.2_views:3_taxonomic:3_node_tax:start | Nodes]], which only download [[dido:public:ra:xapend:xapend.a_glossary:b:block_header | Block Headers]] as they appear and fetch other parts of the [[dido:public:ra:xapend:xapend.a_glossary:b:blockchain]] on-demand. They provide full functionality in terms of safely accessing the Blockchain, but do not [[dido:public:ra:xapend:xapend.a_glossary:m:mining]] and therefore do not take part in the [[dido:public:ra:xapend:xapend.k_consensus:start | Consensus Process]]. [[dido:public:ra:1.2_views:3_taxonomic:3_node_tax:full | Full]] and [[dido:public:ra:1.2_views:3_taxonomic:3_node_tax:full:archival | Archival]] nodes can also support the **''les''** protocol besides [[dido:public:ra:xapend:xapend.a_glossary:e:eth]] in order to be able to serve light nodes.

Source: [[https://github.com/ethereum/devp2p/blob/master/caps/les.md ]]


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