From 5bca28faef9641cebf58bf9c6eb14c60aa8d8baa Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Guillaume Ballet <3272758+gballet@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 2026 19:01:22 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] review feedback

---
 trie/bintrie/empty.go      |  3 ++-
 trie/bintrie/empty_test.go | 15 +++++++++++----
 trie/bintrie/stem_node.go  |  3 +--
 trie/bintrie/trie.go       |  5 +----
 4 files changed, 15 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-)

diff --git a/trie/bintrie/empty.go b/trie/bintrie/empty.go
index 63863e1c4c..252146a4a7 100644
--- a/trie/bintrie/empty.go
+++ b/trie/bintrie/empty.go
@@ -48,7 +48,8 @@ func (e Empty) Hash() common.Hash {
 }
 
 func (e Empty) GetValuesAtStem(_ []byte, _ NodeResolverFn) ([][]byte, error) {
-	return nil, nil
+	var values [256][]byte
+	return values[:], nil
 }
 
 func (e Empty) InsertValuesAtStem(key []byte, values [][]byte, _ NodeResolverFn, depth int) (BinaryNode, error) {
diff --git a/trie/bintrie/empty_test.go b/trie/bintrie/empty_test.go
index 526ac8f93c..574ae1830b 100644
--- a/trie/bintrie/empty_test.go
+++ b/trie/bintrie/empty_test.go
@@ -105,8 +105,7 @@ func TestEmptyHash(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-// TestEmptyGetValuesAtStem tests that GetValuesAtStem returns nil for an empty node,
-// signaling that no values exist at the queried stem.
+// TestEmptyGetValuesAtStem tests the GetValuesAtStem method
 func TestEmptyGetValuesAtStem(t *testing.T) {
 	node := Empty{}
 
@@ -115,8 +114,16 @@ func TestEmptyGetValuesAtStem(t *testing.T) {
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("Unexpected error: %v", err)
 	}
-	if values != nil {
-		t.Errorf("Expected nil values from Empty.GetValuesAtStem, got %d entries", len(values))
+
+	// Should return an array of 256 nil values
+	if len(values) != 256 {
+		t.Errorf("Expected 256 values, got %d", len(values))
+	}
+
+	for i, v := range values {
+		if v != nil {
+			t.Errorf("Expected nil value at index %d, got %x", i, v)
+		}
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/trie/bintrie/stem_node.go b/trie/bintrie/stem_node.go
index 65e7ae3720..e5729e6182 100644
--- a/trie/bintrie/stem_node.go
+++ b/trie/bintrie/stem_node.go
@@ -35,8 +35,7 @@ type StemNode struct {
 	hash          common.Hash // cached hash when mustRecompute == false
 }
 
-// Get retrieves the value for the given key. Returns (nil, nil) if the
-// key's stem does not match this node's stem (non-membership).
+// Get retrieves the value for the given key.
 func (bt *StemNode) Get(key []byte, _ NodeResolverFn) ([]byte, error) {
 	if !bytes.Equal(bt.Stem, key[:StemSize]) {
 		return nil, nil
diff --git a/trie/bintrie/trie.go b/trie/bintrie/trie.go
index 407014d55c..156e0887ff 100644
--- a/trie/bintrie/trie.go
+++ b/trie/bintrie/trie.go
@@ -202,9 +202,6 @@ func (t *BinaryTrie) GetAccount(addr common.Address) (*types.StateAccount, error
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("GetAccount (%x) error: %v", addr, err)
 	}
-	if values == nil {
-		return nil, nil
-	}
 
 	// The following code is required for the MPT->Binary conversion.
 	// An account can be partially migrated, where storage slots were moved to the binary
@@ -212,7 +209,7 @@ func (t *BinaryTrie) GetAccount(addr common.Address) (*types.StateAccount, error
 	// are in the binary trie but basic account information must be read in the base tree (MPT).
 	// TODO: we can simplify this logic depending if the conversion is in progress or finished.
 	emptyAccount := true
-	for i := 0; i <= CodeHashLeafKey && emptyAccount; i++ {
+	for i := 0; values != nil && i <= CodeHashLeafKey && emptyAccount; i++ {
 		emptyAccount = emptyAccount && values[i] == nil
 	}
 	if emptyAccount {