Three Countries, USA, Germany And France Hold Over 50% Of Bitcoin Full Nodes

Three Countries Hold Over 50% Of Bitcoin Full Nodes

When it comes to cryptocurrency, the power resides in whichever entities have a majority stake. This is especially true when it comes to nodes, which are the computers that are connected to the blockchain network. The situation presently at hand is in regard to Bitcoin nodes, which Captain Altcoin states has a concentration of over 50% in three countries.

A full node is a node that is capable of enforcing the blockchain’s rules entirely, while a lightweight node (also known as a light client) features a copy of the full node of the blockchain. Essentially, users with this type of node have the ability to perform transactions on the blockchain but do not require an entire copy of the blockchain to be used. Presently, there are 9,560 Bitcoin nodes in the world, and all of the history of these nodes has to be downloaded when a lightweight node is used.

There are 109 different countries that have at least one bitcoin node right now, and the reports from Captain Altcoin indicate that the majority are in three countries. The USA is the top on the list, as they host 2,380 nodes with 24.9% of nodes. The next is Germany, hosting 1,912 nodes at 20% of the total nodes. The third is a steep drop down in numbers, with France holding 612 nodes, which is 6.45% of all nodes. In total, that accounts for 51.5% of the nodes in the entire world.

This publication adds that Singapore and the Netherlands are both major presences in the scheme of things. Even though the countries are small, they have the highest number of Bitcoin nodes per capita. The ratio comes down to 17,700 to 32,000 citizens for each node they hold, while the United States features over 120,000 citizens with each node.