Bitcoin full nodes protect the network, keep the bitcoin network decentralized. Running a full node instead of a lightweight client or using a SPV wallet, is crucial because brings great advantages about security of transactions and privacy. Running a full node in addition helps the network providing more decentralization security.

Today if we want to hold bitcoin and we care security and privacy, we shall setup a full node and connect our wallet with it. Moreover it is normally associated with a cold wallet and TOR network connection.

Let’s see the main advantages

1.When broadcasting your transactions, you are sure they are really broadcasted to miners without having to rely on third party nodes. Bear in mind that your transactions matter your money.

2.If you broadcast your transactions with a third party node and not yours, this third party will have details about your transactions. In particular the association between transaction and your connection IP, this may be also correlated to your name. In order to be really pseudonymous, you need to connect to the bitcoin network directly and with a full node you can finally do that. In this way you dont trust others and you protect your privacy.

3.You can verify authoritatively transactions and therefore your node can reject invalid transactions.

4.Efficiently calculate your balance by correctly checking the amount of unspent outputs that your wallet can spend.

So you see how it’s fundamental the use of a full dedicated private bitcoin node. There are two different possibilities for running a node. You can:

  • run a hardware dedicated node connected to your home LAN network. In this case you have a small device that you just have to plug into the home lan and keep running. The hardware is very cheap and very unexpensive as electricity needed. This is ideal for all people who want to have the node in hands.
  • run an hosted node. In this case you connect your local wallet through an encrypted tunnel; there is no hardware to manage and the connection is always on.

In the images below you can see a node with a dedicated odroid hardware and a ssd fast disk 1TB for the whole blockchain and next expansions. The very large and fast disk makes possible further storage and the possibility to run transactions very quickly. The electricity usage is very low by this hardware