Multi-bit keys

To lower the number of hops necessary to route a query through the network multi-bit keys can be used. This means that a child can have more than a single bit longer key than its parent. For example, a peer with key k could have 16 children where there are two children responsible for each of the keys k000, k001, k010, k011, k100, k101, k110 and k111. This allows a peer to use several bits of the key for a single hop, which reduces the total amount of hops. This is useful if keys are expected to be long, for example 128 bits.

If varying length keys are used then the parent is responsible for managing a key that is too short for any of its children. If k consists of 63 bits and the children use an additional three bits, for a total of 66 bits, then the node with key k is responsible for 64 bit keys with k as a prefix.