Tomorrow we are doing practical workshop on running your own node at local Bitcoin meetup so I’m collecting good reasons for individuals to do that. Curious what you all think?
Also, good options to make the setup and maintenance easy. What do people here use? Umbrel? Start9 Plain Bitcoin core?
Scoresby explains it as clearly as possible but I'd add that running a node isn't a charitable act. The incentives are aligned for you to run a node for purely selfish reasons. You point your wallet at your own node to verify your own transactions and broadcast your own transactions. Fuck everyone else. The network still benefits. "Bitcoin is for enemies."
100%
(I should have included something like this. It's a very important point)
Are you talking ~lightning node or ~bitcoin node? Because are not the same, and seems you mixing them up.
Very good question
I believe neither network requires that you actually have "stake" to merely participate in gossip of the protocol messages; data validation is based on proof-of-work, or anchored into the UTXO set, and the entire ecosystem has an interest in making the data outwards-visible for newcomers interested in joining.
I run a node for three simple reasons. First, it lets me run a lightning node so I can send and receive payments privately and quickly while holding my own keys. Second, I can mine against my own node. Third, I can verify that my coins are actually real.
Excellent points related to solo mining (block template creation) and self-custodial lightning node operation!
Correct me if I'm wrong (probably), but don't you need a certain amount of Bitcoin to run a full node versus just be a core wallet?
you can run a node without any bitcoin at all.
a node is just a program you run on a computer that tries to download and verify all the blocks in the chain with the most proof of work. once the program has verified all the past blocks, it listens for new blocks with valid proof of work that add to that chain.
While it's waiting for a new block, the program also listens for (and can relay to other nodes) unconfirmed transactions. The place it saves these on your computer is called your "mempool."
That's pretty much all a node does, be it Core, Knots, or libbitcoin.
A wallet keeps track of the coins that are controlled by your keys. Wallets need to talk to a node to know which blocks have transactions that are relevant to your keys. If you aren't running a node, your wallet software has to ask someone else's node -- and this means it tells them which coins you are interested in (by which they can infer that they are your coins).
I'd go further: anyone who wishes to dabble, and doesn't plan to accumulate any significant amount of coinage[1] should possibly spend their time more wisely[2]; whereas anyone who plans to pay for their first major chunk of Bitcoin should already be running a node, so that they don't e.g. buy testnet, or one of the altcoins whose wallets can trivially be reskinned to fool a newcomer.
coin-age; weight-times-time, i.e. "bitcoin days destroyed", before they've been moved. savings. stackage. you get my point, I hope! ↩
perhaps hustling, rather than dabbling... ↩
I think I see where my confusion is. A lightning node requires staking for liquidity. Ergo, that's where I got the idea of a bitcoin node requiring a cost.
"Staking" sounds like a carryover from shitcoinery. You can run a lightning node all you like regardless of funds. It would be pointless, but it is a fact. This is where you should probably read @DarthCoin primers on private vs public lightning nodes and understand the purpose of channel openings, inbound/outbound liquidity and routing (if public).
I sympathise with your hostility for "nothing at stake" shenanigans, although from the perspective of someone figuring things out for the first time, who might have first heard about trust-minimized finance from proponents of e.g. ethereum, there is not an obvious difference between staking ethereum and improving the lightning network by adding liquidity and running some LSPs.
This hostility is a protection against stupidity.
You can have a full node and haven’t any bitcoin.
There was this article shared yesterday here: https://blockdyor.com/why-running-a-lightning-node/
As far as devices, I'm a fan of an old laptop or computer with whatever node software you like. Core or Knots or Umbrella or Start9 -- I believe all have their software available for free.
Sounds like a great meetup!
Good reasons why: https://planb.academy/en/courses/3cd9cb94-82e8-417a-9c5a-02afc2589426/why-run-your-own-node-39c0cd19-67f9-4c64-bfb3-dbd6eec0bf42
I think umbrel and start9 are a good start, unless you're talking to an already linux nerd then something like raspibolt or minibolt.
I run a few as it's good to have some degree of sovereignty and also good to keep the network decentralized.
I found that the main issue for newbies isn't the node, they have no fucking clue about network, router, ip, internet, the plug and play selling point as best could be maintain for a couple of months.
Then it's a good time to setup a bitcoin node, so in case of errors at least the user know what an ip is, how to use the shell and some common problem solve skills.
A LN? wait a couple of months, read about PSU and how bad could you fuck up your btc.
I run my own node because I want to first... fuck the banks.
Please no! Do not start teaching total noobs to run nodes with Umbrel or Start9.
It seems easy but is not and you only confuse them and give them the wrong step to start.
It's cool. Nothing else.
Decentralize network
Running your own node is empowering and keeps you in control; Umbrel makes it easy, Bitcoin Core is rock solid.
One more reason: it's a good way to learn how Bitcoin works.