The role that full nodes play in security of the network. People focus a lot on mining, which has a fundamental role in the network but is not necessarily the most interesting feature of the constellation of technologies involved. The Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) is the most essential protocol underlying the world's routing system, and you use it every single day without knowing it, just as you are oblivious to the vast filtration system allowing you to drink clean water from a fountain.
A node is a computer that is participating the global peer-to-peer Bitcoin network. They propagate transactions and blocks everywhere. Full nodes act independently as authoritative verifiers. Onion routing. Double-spending protection. Levels of isolation for untrustworthy nodes. Why would you run one? To be in control of your money - your keys, your money. You don't trust anyone else to tell you what the truth is, you cross-check every claim yourself. Be part of the revolution in money.
Transcript
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There's been a lot of talk about mining equipments and the overall pico hash, how much does it stand for? It's at around 3,500 pico hash right now. But there's no talk about how many nodes are there and what technology they are using. Can you please explain a little bit about the role that nodes play in the protocol and everything?
That's a great question. Thank you so much. So we've discussed mining and a lot of people focus on mining. It's actually a problem that people focus on mining because mining is an enabling technology in Bitcoin, but it is by no means the only technology in Bitcoin.
It is not even the most interesting technology in Bitcoin. It's part of a constellation of technologies that work together. I ask this question of audiences often. I assume you all use the internet, yes?
I'm not talking about Facebook, I'm talking about the internet. All right. Who here has a working understanding of the purpose, mechanics, and applications of the Border Gateway Protocol, BGP? One, two, three.
I'm counting myself. Excellent. Did you have any idea that without that, the internet doesn't work? Did you have any idea that, in fact, that protocol, BGP, is responsible for getting your packets from here to there, everywhere in the world?
It is the most essential technology underlying the world's routing system, and you use BGP every single day. It's just that you didn't know you were using it. Right? It's almost like turning on your water and being oblivious to the process of filtration and chlorination that ensures that you don't get typhoid from it.
And that is the same with BGP, and it's the same with mining. Mining is a technology that miners need to know about. Just like BGP is a technology that service providers and routing experts need to know about, but the average user does not. On the other hand, nodes are important.
Nodes are like servers on the internet, but they have an even more important role. So what is a node? A node is simply a computer that is participating in the global Bitcoin network by speaking a protocol that, for further confusion, is called Bitcoin. The protocol, the Bitcoin peer-to-peer network protocol, to be more specific, is a protocol that allows these nodes on the network to communicate with each other.
And what they do is they propagate transactions and blocks everywhere. You can run one of these. In fact, you should. There are about 10,000 nodes that we know of that advertise their presence by listening on specific ports in a way that can be discovered.
There's probably five or six times as many that do not advertise their services, that do not listen on open ports, or even that are hidden behind various protocols like Tor and things like that, and listen on hidden ports. In general, the nodes that are participating in Bitcoin serve the most important purpose. Every one of them acts as an authoritative verifier of every single transaction and block. Every single transaction and block.
That type of node is called a full node, or even more precisely, a fully validating node. A fully validating node may also keep a full copy of the blockchain, the entire ledger on its hard drive. It doesn't have to. It can be a fully validating node with a reduced copy of the blockchain.
It communicates by random process of connection with a set of peers that it chooses from the network. It doesn't trust these peers. It monitors these peers, and every time it receives a transaction or block, the other peer says, ''Here is a transaction that is happening on the Bitcoin network,'' and your node goes, ''So you say. Let's see.'' It takes it and independently verifies every aspect of that transaction.
It authoritatively reconciles it with its own copy of the ledger to determine whether the funds have been double spent. If you send that node a transaction that is incorrect, it will not only reject the transaction, it will stop talking to you. It will go, ''Uh-uh. Uh-uh.
No, you lied. I'm not talking to you for 24 hours.'' Now go stand in the corner. A node that tries to propagate incorrect information is very quickly isolated, because all of the nodes that it attempts to communicate with will ban it and disconnect from it. There are levels of offense.
There are some things that are so egregious that they'll get you permanently banned, and there are some things that will only get you dropped for an hour or so. It varies. The important thing is that nodes don't trust each other. They authoritatively and fully validate every transaction.
Why would you run one of these things? Because you want to be in control of your money. The whole purpose of Bitcoin is that you don't trust anyone else to tell you what the truth is. You trust only in the execution of the consensus rules and the independent verification that they do.
I run a fully validating node. In fact, I run several of them. I cross-check them. Every service provider, every exchange, every wallet company, every company that interacts with Bitcoin, every individual that wants this same level of authority and autonomy runs a fully validating node.
Nodes decide what the rules are, not miners. Miners get the transactions that nodes decided were valid. They give back to the nodes. They give back blocks at the pleasure of the nodes that will decide if they are worthy of being propagated because they are valid.
The validity of the consensus rules is not determined by miners. They sequence transactions into a block. The validity of the consensus rules is determined by nodes because they will not propagate lies. That's the importance of a node.
If you can, run one. 120GB of disk space, a couple of gigs of monthly bandwidth, 4GB of RAM, a dual or four-core CPU, plug it into your DSL, turn it on, be part of the revolution in money. More importantly, at that point in time, you no longer need to ask anyone, did a transaction happen? Is it confirmed?
Is it valid? Do you now have an authoritative record of your own that answers that question without appeal to any authority? That is really running Bitcoin. Thank you for asking that question.
That was a great question. They are all jewelry. It really matters for money. Thank you, Mike.
Thank you. So that means there's not one other thing left? Yeah. So that means that at the end of the week, if an account goes up and the transaction up.
Does that mean when they happened, guys, but I was talking to my dad for a second or a mind spam Nie26, I was talking to my dad, and I did this.