Methods and apparatuses relating to accelerating blockchain transactions are described. In one embodiment, a processor includes a hardware accelerator to execute an operation of a blockchain transaction, and the hardware accelerator includes a dispatcher circuit to route the operation to a transaction processing circuit when the operation is a transaction operation and route the operation to a block processing circuit when the operation is a block operation. In another embodiment, a processor includes a hardware accelerator to execute an operation of a blockchain transaction; and a network interface controller including a dispatcher circuit to route the operation to a transaction processing circuit of the hardware accelerator when the operation is a transaction operation and route the operation to a block processing circuit of the hardware accelerator when the operation is a block operation.