Running a Bitcoin Node Becomes Increasingly Important to Keep the Network Decentralized

Running a node is very important for a specific network. Indeed, it allows users to validate their own transactions, increases security and improves privacy. Users are able to store the blockchain activity on their own devices. A node is also very important for using the Lightning Network (LN) as well.

Bitcoin Nodes Are Important

Bitcoin miners work in order to produce new blocks and process transactions in the network. Meanwhile, full nodes validate these transactions and prevent changes in consensus protocols.

Miners secure the future.

Nodes secure the past.#Bitcoin cannot succeed nor exist with either.

Can we please put the nodes vs miners narrative to rest please, it is moot. Bitcoin requires both.

— Melik Manukyan ⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️ (@melikmanukyan) March 16, 2019

There are friendly interfaces that allow users to run a full validating node without having to write a single line of code. Although the process is simplified, it still requires basic knowledge and time from users. This is something that could deter some users. However, Bitcoin supporters would run these nodes without hesitating and expecting others to do so.

It is now possible to purchase a $300 device from CasaHODL that comes with a pre-synced Bitcoin node and that allows users to onboard the Lightning Network in a very simple way. However, those users that purchase the node from Casa would not be able to set transaction fees as they desire.

Users can also purchase a Raspberry Pi, a hard drive, and some enclosure. This RaspiBlitz DIY project has been expanding in the community, but the process is very long and not really efficient to synchronize the full Bitcoin node.

A Bitcoin user decided to purchase a 512-gigabyte Adata SD600 SSD that can be connected to a USB in a computer. The device is small and it is covered in rubber. He mentioned that the Bitcoin blockchain is currently 246 GB large and it will take 1891 days for the remaining 266 GB to be occupied.

It is possible to download the version 0.17.1 of the Bitcoin client on Bitcoin.org and install it in a device. It can be Windows, MacOS, or Linux. The user had to leave the computer running all that time, disable the screensaver and also the power saving features. After it, he allowed Bitcoin Core to use 4 GB of the ram.

The user, known as Vampire Vlad of Wallachia on Twitter, said that it took him between 35 and 40 hours to sync the whole Bitcoin network on his computer.

In the end, it took me somewhere between 35 to 40 hours to sync Bitcoin Core on my computer. I think I’ll try again and allow it to use 4 GB of RAM from the very beginning, without the screensaver mode (which I discovered that drastically reduces the speed).

— Vlad Costea (@TheVladCostea) March 29, 2019

The user decided to start using the node on the desktop and mobile devices he had. In order to have more privacy, the best is to run Wasabi Wallet, mix the Bitcoins using CoinJoin and make transactions using ToR.