Topic: Should I, we, run a bitcoin node? (Read 308 times)

I don't collect system metric, so i can't answer any of your questions. But you can get rough estimation by checking website https://statoshi.info and select "System Metrics". You'll need to contact owner of that website to know which hardware is used though.


Money that could be earned from routing LN transaction is extremely low and probably can't even cover electricity cost of the PC/laptop. Check this thread, The Lightning Network node experience.

Depends. The lowest amount to start a channel is the transaction fee + amount of coins you want to put in the channel. The less you put there the less transactions you will process.
Nodes are chosen based on capacity and they have their own rank. If you want your node to have high rank you need a lot of capacity. I don't run my own so I'm only telling you what I know about it, not from experience.

I saw a few people share their experience and usually if they had between 1 and 2 bitcoin locked in the network they were able to earn $10-20 a month from it. 

BTC is tied to the node but it's not at risk.


Yes. You can route your transactions through your own node.

I'd say very little. Node proponents tell you to run it because it contributes to the network. The more nodes the more robust the network becomes and if you have a lot of bitcoin you want the network to work well. For someone with 10m dollars in bitcoin, spending $500 on a plug and play bitcoin node is dust.


If your system is not infected and you don't make any mistakes like send it to a wrong address or set the fee too high, you're not at risk. I've sent hundreds of transactions in the last 6 or 7 years and none of them was blocked, hijacked or lost.


Yes, but if you're paying for something and that transaction is sent, it's over. Payment processors send information to the store and it's the same with ATMs. If you exchanged bitcoin at 30000 dollars and by the time it confirmed the price was 29500, they won't cancel it or send the money back to you.

As a Bitcoin node, you don't make confirmations. You do not have a power to do this but who can do it?

Bitcoin miners mine blocks, make confirmation for Bitcoin transactions and deliver those transactions to Bitcoin network. Bitcoin node validate those transactions and if valid, the node will propagate those transactions to other nodes on Bitcoin network.

There is an effect, if we consider where the person who is running the node lives and the associated costs to running a node: internet, electricity and the price of the hardware. Here in my country one would not be able to run a full node and keep it on, withiut having to pay for a descent internet connection (which is expensive to anyone here) However, because of the altruistic nature of running a node, so the network can be more decentralized, I would dare to say it is one of the most reliable ways to know someone is a true Bitcoiner which loves this community truly by heart.
I hope to be able to run my own node someday, eventually, at least for a couple of years. 

I too would be interested in a more detailed explanation of that opinion, although I am sure it will be controversial because I think most of the forum will disagree. For privacy, for example, I think it is a good reason to run a node, as mentioned. Also, as for the node network, in principle, it seems that the more the better, no?

I don't run a Bitcoin node yet, because I don't have a stable internet network in my local town. But, I installed Bitcoin core wallet which always running on my PC to download the blockchain daily and the wallet always ran automatically when my PC started, so never forget to update block. Beside unstable internet, I also have difficult to setting network configurations, I always don’t have inbound connections. Maybe I have a problem and have wrong step to setting internet modem (router), and Configuring DHCP. I always read The instruction several times. But the connection never connected so far.

that silly network requires you to lock funds up, predicting your spending habit of more then a month. some suggest atleast 10 payments of value as the minimum utility to be worth the effort of getting a good fee per payment vs the open close fee cost

the next thing is they say to guarantee a path to destination, depending on how big the amounts you want to move, dictates how successful a payment will be.. so you should have upto 4+ channel(accounts) meaning 4x the expected spend for that time scale if your spending big.
 
the next thing is they want you to allocate some of your funds to route other people payments. meaning you dont get to use all your funds so again you need to 2x the value of each channel if you want to offer 50% of liquidity to the routing network

many people find they on average lock up $160 of value. but only able to successfully make payments 100% attempts for values under $16 per payment
EG $16 * 10payments *1 channels= $160 (allocate 50% to other users routed payments =$320)

if you are looking to make more then $16 a payment and do more then 10 payments before closing the channel then you may need to to lock up and split up more then the multiplier of total liquidity by having more channels to ensure better success attempts when making payments.

EG 2 channels if payments are ~$75 and if doing 20 payments per open-close session
$75 * 20payments *2 channels= $3000 (allocate 50% to other users routed payments =$6000)


the silly network is not simple have funds spend funds

How much BTC is needed to run a lightning node?  Is that BTC tied up with the node?  Is it put at a risk?

And on that risk note, answers in this thread indicate that my transactions are more secure if I have my own full node.  Looking in the other direction, my transactions are at more risk when I do not have my own node.  Just how much more risk is there?

If I am running a wallet such as Trezor, and I send or receive some BTC, how much risk am I exposed to?

I suspect that if I am using Coinbase, and put in a buy or sell for BTC, the only risk is that the dollar cost of BTC changes while the transaction is being consummated.  Is there another risk I am not aware of?

Not your node- not your confirmation. 

I feel like I have learned a lot from running a node. 

It's interesting, it's not common to read this opinion.  Can you please explain why it should be less important today than in the past?  Do you mean that there are already enough nodes today?

Ideally, shouldn't there be one per user, or as many as possible?

There was a time when running a node was important, but I don’t think that time is here anymore. Unless you’re running some sort of mining pool or accepting BTC through some sort of automated storefront it doesn’t make a ton of sense to do. It’s more a waste of resources than anything and will likely have a negative effect on your hardware.

It is not financially rewarding in both the short and long term, running a BTC node isn't for financial reward, it is for a better privacy and security, because you verify everything locally and you don't have to connect to third party servers.
As a miner, you must run a full node.
You don't have to run a full node to buy BTC, but if you want better privacy and you don't want to expose your BTC addresses and IP addresses to third parties, you have to run your own node.

There are node kits available if you want to try with ease. Basically plug and play stuff that guide you step by step through the process.

A node can be an interesting thing to do when you don't have enough money to mine bitcoin but want to be able to say that you actively support the network.

A PI node with a small LCD screen is an interesting decoration and a conversation starter when someone visits you.


There's some money involved if you run a lightning node, but this requires owning bitcoin, so I doubt that's what OP is asking about and what he's able to do at the moment.

Presume we are running a full node under some version of Linux. Let's say 2 to 3 Ghz clock rate, 16 Gig of memory, and nothing running but the Bitcoin full node software.  About how much will the CPU be utilized?  Will it be fairly steady?  Or I suspect with significant peaks for each block that is validated and stored? 

I mostly use Windows, but, am quite certain that Linux is much better at this task.

If you are running a full node, please advise as to some of your system specifications.

After the full blockchain has been gathered and stored, what is the average and peak network bandwidth?

Thank you for your time and patience.

If you want to make money from Bitcoin, you need to become a miner where you have to buy ASICs instead of run a full node. Running a full node make Bitcoin become more decentralized because it's add a new participant which is you, but it's not mean without you Bitcoin will become centralized.

The effect is almost zero for you, you don't have to run a full node to invest or hold Bitcoin.

In some regions of the world, the option of running a full node is not possible due to the slowness of the Internet, as downloading the blockchain may take several weeks. Here, these people must use SPV wallets, or at least trust a trusted person who manages a full node with a connection via Tor.
If you have the option to manage an entire node, you should do so, not to enhance privacy, but to decentralize the network.


I don't think storage will be a problem as the cost of TB/USD is falling every year and Moore's Law says it will fall even further.

Transactions are automatically validated by the node without you having to do anything. Invalid transactions are rejected and dropped - these will not get confirmed.

The wallet software is responsible for making sure that the transactions which it broadcasts to the network are made in the correct format so that they are valid.

when you log into coinbase. you are not logging into any network. you are viewing coinbase website data. which they can remove your access to or manipulate the data or be hacked. yep the balance you see in coinbase is not of soe locked coins with your name on.. the coins you deposited into coinbase get co-mingled with other customers and become coinbases assets in their cold wallet. none of the coins in their cold wallet have your name on it. #not-your-key-not-your-coin

by you having coin on a key which only you have the privat/secret/seed to control signing movements of. you control the funds. and then to ensure no one can edit a database/ledger of who has what. having access to the decentralised immutable blockchain means you are sure the data is clean and shows you own the funds

running a node removes the middleman. you can inspect the data, analyse the data without concern that someone is telling you lies
knowing you can independently see transactions destined to you arrive is more confident then relying on a third party that makes mistakes, gets hacked, cheats, lies, or simply ignores or disavows access

Running a Bitcoin full node will help you to secure your privacy and anonymity. By using Tor to hide your IP address, don't rely on other nodes to broadcast your transactions and I am sure with a wallet software that can be used to run a Bitcoin full node, you can use Coin control feature so that you can have anonymity too.

[Guide] How to run a Bitcoin Core full node for under 50 bucks!

Bitcoin nodes play vital roles in the verification of transactions in bitcoin network. Verifying and adhering to the consensus rules set aside to guide transactions and blocks is the main or primary duty of a bitcoin node. In line with what he said, your node will participate in going through all transactions and block to determine if they'll be accepted to join the block with the most chain work; honest block. You're not required any task. It's left for miners to add new transactions to the blockchain. While the node verify if the transactions are eligible to be included to the block; before agreeing to add them in the blockchain. Nodes follow the block with the most work, which creates a possibility for 51% attack. But, it's almost impossible for a single individual or institution to possess a computing power that is more than all the computers used by miners across the globe, that can validate a block's difficulty; the number of hash-rate required to mine a block. Even possessing 39% of the computing power can perform a 51% attack thereby enforcing double spending. When a node sees such a block from a suspicious miner it'll involuntarily accept it to the block as the block with the most work and the miner can take the advantage of reversing his funds or double spend.