Bitcoin Q&A: What is the Role of Nodes?

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.
Chapters
0:00 Can you explain about the role that nodes play in the protocol?
2:16 What is a node?
3:35 Fully validating node
5:19 A node that tries to propagate incorrect information is isolated
5:44 Why would you run a node?
6:33 Nodes decide what the rules are, not the miners
This is part of a talk which took place at the JW Marriott Sahar (International Airport) on March 26th 2017 in Mumbai, India: www.townscript.com/e/bitcoin-...
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Andreas M. Antonopoulos is a technologist and serial entrepreneur who has become one of the most well-known and well-respected figures in bitcoin.
Follow on Twitter: @aantonop / aantonop
Website: antonopoulos.com/
He is the author of two books: “Mastering Bitcoin,” published by O’Reilly Media and considered the best technical guide to bitcoin; “The Internet of Money,” a book about why bitcoin matters.
THE INTERNET OF MONEY, v1: www.amazon.co.uk/Internet-Mon...
MASTERING BITCOIN: www.amazon.co.uk/Mastering-Bi...
[NEW] MASTERING BITCOIN, 2nd Edition: www.amazon.com/Mastering-Bitc...
Subscribe to the channel to learn more about Bitcoin & open blockchains!
Videography: Zebpay Bitcoin India
Music: "Unbounded" by Orfan ( / orfan )
Outro Graphics: Phneep (www.phneep.com/)
Outro Art: Rock Barcellos (www.rockincomics.com.br/)
Join the aantonop Channel: aantonop.io/joinaantonopyt

[@Francesco-cj3oi]

I just love hearing this guy talk, he makes everything sound so simple and clear

[@logann001]

wow what a fantastic spokesman for bitcoin didn't we get lucky! been following andreas for years, thx andreas shame its not longer.

[@staycontent]

he is a true genius

[@cipga]

I won't trade him for Amanda.

[@beberage]

but but....she's....

[@aronmcleod4436]

Prove that you're rich. 1BM1nqQxa2yJt6WPAogxrEftUX9kPuMMii kzbin.info/www/bejne/nH_OaKGPrbmCr7M

[@joeyflubbermuffin7227]

xpf Amanda B. Johnson is an excellent spokeman, probably the best for crypto currencies, but sadly she is working for team Dash so... Andrreas it is!

[@JackSmith-cl9eo]

Great question great answer

[@NorrisBaldwin]

Great explanation of the role of nodes at 6:30. "Miners get the transactions that nodes decided were valid and they give back blocks at the pleasure of the nodes that will decide if they are worthy of being propagated because they are valid."

[@henrik2117]

Keeps coming back to this video. One of my absolute favourite. Your knowledge and inspiring way of sharing this is addictive! It sparks a wish to learn more. Thank you for doing that!

[@JustinColletti]

Not really. There are people here commenting that they believe that non-mining nodes "secure the blockchain." This is not the case and not what Andreas is saying, so if that's the takeaway then he is not communicating properly.

[@5280ryan]

No contest....Andreas is my all time favorite Bitcoiner. His sincerity was the main reason I first bought Bitcoin.

[@markwright69]

My first time listening to Andreas. This guy is a beast! Sub'd

[@ThepoweroftheBitcoinnetwork]

Can always trust you to provide a comprehensive answer to any question I have - thanks Andreas

[@formetoknow540]

Beautifully presented ❤

[@JIANYM36]

ANDREAS. AWESOME SPEECH. LOVED IT>>>>> KEEP IT UP>>>>

[@ped5906]

You do a great job explaining things--THANK YOU!

[@red4danger867]

WOW..not only a great question but a great answer too. excellent speaker.

[@orenkrimchansky]

Powerful and yet simple explanation. Reminds me Richard Feynman way of explaining things

[@marysini1391]

He is a real genious of bitcoin and trasmission of knowledge about it in a superlative way. Maybe he is satoshi. 😀😀

[@MsJoy234]

That was honestly a really fantastic answer and explained very well

[@cardsigner]

Question: Do every mining nodes construct the same block (ie, same list of unconfirmed transactions)? Or do each mining node construct different blocks (ie, slightly different list of unconfirmed transactions)?

[@RebelStateSovereign]

Brilliant as usual

[@gpnulife]

Just awesome! Great information.

[@updated5202]

I am new in this field of blockchain , and after learning alot about mining and nodes I just have one question. WHAT IS THE INCENTIVE FOR A NODE just like there is an incentive for miner of there isnt any benifit for NODE what keeps it operating

[@Happytruth]

Hi are nodes different to full nodes and what are the differences, also are nodes just or more important when it comes to consensus voting for changes to the protocol, is a hard fork more extreme than a soft folk and is the only difference a hard fork doesn’t implement software changes but a soft fork does is this correct? Thank you.

[@Gszada]

greate question but far greater answer. such a good teacher andreas. you make every other teacher look crappy.

[@deathmetaldxb]

Great question & top answer

[@hardhouseinc]

I run bitcoin core 24/7 with the full blockchain on an external HD Is that a fully validating node by default? I have 10 connections to me at all times

[@Un4inged]

This man is brilliant

[@TenTron]

Thanks for another informative video. I have a couple questions though. 1) Should I run a full node behind a vpn? 2) I've opened port 8333 and have 40 active connections. How many connections can I expect and will this interfere with online gaming or hogging the bandwidth?

[@MiguelTorrellas]

I'm interested too in running a node and wonder too if it will hog my 3mbps connection

[@csix9169]

You can run a full node behind a vpn but it will cut your bandwidth. Depending on how close the servers are that you are connecting to and how much traffic they have as well as how much network traffic you are handling from the bitcoin network will be a deciding factor in speed. Another thing is most vpn providers farm out their clients so that subscribers have multiple countries to connect to, and the servers run by those companies will monitor the traffic. Have had many throttle bandwidth after a couple of days because of the routing of bitcoin traffic thru their servers. It can be done but check your upload/download speeds as you go. Also thru vpn Bitnodes.21.co won't see your ip most times.

[@TenTron]

Thanks for the info.

[@user-ht7gw9ww1c]

Clear explanation!!!^^

[@khushboojain7045]

What is the use of building your own node. I mean how is it profitable for me to know that the transaction occurred. Plz Reply

[@kevinjoseph517]

where was this meeting held?

[@kolakeman-gpuro6916]

Again another great info.....

[@PamirTea]

Beautiful

[@0xOrganix]

the best video i have seen this year 2018 jeje

[@asaseins8320]

what stops a big player to spun up thousands of nodes with a tampered code and get control of the network ?

[@djordjeilic9830]

Do you know the answer? I'm searching for this answer for so long...

[@mrwick379]

It must be quite harder to do so then the simplicity implied of doing it your posts suggest. Ask yourself this, in the history of bitcoin there has never been one compromise in the blockchain. In now which is a half a trillion to trillion dollar market cap system, no one has been able to do this. Why is that?

[@faustosagath6015]

La mitad del video no tiene los subtítulos al español!

[@derradfahrer5029]

0:55 Because facebook went down on 10/04/21, I did a bit of research to find out why and now know what the GBP is and what it is used for. And than I see this video on my research how the "bitcoin"-technologie works under the hood. (I guess thank you youtube-algorithm)

[@CryptoRootz]

BEAST MODE!!!!

[@alextrezvy6889]

03:33: What is "hidden" port?

[@csix9169]

Maybe routing traffic thru TOR. Port 9050

[@Coolbi97]

0333

[@TheObsessedGardener]

Nodes act as an authoritative verifier of transactions on the blockchain. Took half, the video..but we got there.

[@sendbitcoin]

4:39 chuckle xD

[@DecentralizedThought]

Andreas, it's my understanding that Full nodes validate transactions and place them in blocks. But a full node must have hashpower behind it. "Full" non mining nodes can't validate transactions for the network and only receive and validate blocks that are already on chain. They have practically no effect on the network outside of your personal benefit. Can you explain if I have a misunderstanding?

[@juanmontejoarias]

WOW!

[@JustinColletti]

This is pretty misleading though. Non-mining nodes do not "create" or add to the consensus. They just monitor the consensus that is being created by the miners to see if anything is different than expected. Bottom line is that non-mining nodes don't create consensus. They just check to see what it is.

[@aantonop]

Incorrect. Non-mining nodes choose their own consensus rules. If they back significant majority of the economic activity, the miners can end up with empty blocks that are rejected by the majority.

[@aantonop]

"This is pretty misleading" is ad-hominem. Disagree if you want. Attack me, or question my honesty and I will simply block.

[@JustinColletti]

Ok, now that's really misleading. First of all, no: Calling a statement "misleading" is not ad hominem. It does not question the honesty or integrity of the speaker. One can believe what he is saying and still be misleading. That's just not what "ad hominem" means. I believe that you may be genuine, honest and sincere in your beliefs. But that doesn't mean your statements aren't grossly misleading. They are. Your intent or degree of sincerity has nothing to do with it. It is a comment about the statement, not the speaker. Bottom line is that if all partial "listening" nodes (what you call non-mining "full" nodes) disappeared tomorrow, the blockchain would still work. If all mining nodes ceased operating, there would be no blockchain. Only mining nodes can create consensus blocks. Non-mining partial nodes can only check to see what the consensus output of those miners who use their preferred rule set is. No amount of word games can change that.

[@billyferguson5881]

So question please?? What type of Non mining node can create consensus?? Thank you!!

[@stratanen1]

the first question is from Matic

[@teqexe]

"Na, ah ah, SEC, go in the corner"

[@peeticek1624]

One important thing for running a really active and useful btc node - public IP Otherwise you just have a copy of blockchain for yourself not for the whole btc network..

[@michawill6599]

Wow

[@pedropaulooficial328]

Antonopoulos, come to Brazil!!!!!!!

[@TP-kq9ul]

Full disclosure: This man is Satoshi Nakamoto. Love to listen to all his talks about bitcoin.

[@MikeG4936]

No he is not. Nick Szabo probably is.

[@khushboojain7045]

Satoshi Nakamoto vanished in 2011. He maybe is a single person or group of persons You never Know.

[@cobrasixtysix3411]

#aantonop I understand that miners receive BTC for the work they do in creating the currency, which is well deserved as they not only have to purchase very expensive hardware, but have to keep updating it regularly to keep pace with the ever increasing difficulty level to do so. It would seem, at this stage, that although running a full node is considered very important and desirable (probably vital) to protect the code and validate the transactions, those who run a full node (currently 123GB of data last I checked) 24/7 are not compensated (at all) for the costs they are incurring to do so. To that end, it seems reasonable to me that a small payment should be introduced and paid to full node operators for providing this service, which could only be viewed as beneficial in the protection of the entire network. A small payment would also incentivise others to run full nodes and so further strengthen the system. I guess the issue then is, if this were to happen, how would it be levied or paid and by whom? Your thoughts?

[@otomackena7610]

many miners do run full nodes .Dash provides incentives to its masternodes

[@csix9169]

I think a % of transaction fee's should be forwarded to the nodes that verify them, but that's just me.

[@jeffreybutts1916]

Price of full node software = $0 Price of mining hardware = $1500-ish w/ PSU.

[@jeffreybutts1916]

That's a little less than I pay for one miner per month at 11.8c

[@jeffreybutts1916]

No. I don't cloud mine. I have an S9 plugged into an electricity monitor and bill that comes from the company. The two balance. Last month was $114.

[@jeffreybutts1916]

But how do you get a full node?

[@5bitcube]

Jeff Butts download bitcoin core wallet and run it

[@Backjack31]

Jeff Butts and how do you confirm the transaction

[@MiguelTorrellas]

Download Bitcoin core and let it download approximately 100 gb of blockchain and that's it

[@psyduck170]

use a wallet that connects to your node so all incoming and outgoing transactions are checked by your own node

[@jeffreybutts1916]

Thanks all. It seems to take a while to sync. EDIT: Do you get "wallet words" or some type of backup if the HD goes?

[@hunor6]

I guess he meant peta hash not pico - in the question.

[@ShreeCoool]

hunor6 Apologies. I asked that question to Andreas & wrongly said PICO instead of PETA. 😅

[@hunor6]

Shreekant Kulkarni sure, no worries man :)

[@garystinten9339]

is it possible for a node to contract a virus and spread across the blockchain?

[@SAL-fs1mr]

It would only affect that particular node's copy of the blockchain, other nodes will continue working without any issues.

[@frankjoy2455]

still lost, don't know where to start to take my cryptos out of the exchange control and into my wallet ??????

[@oslobarker992]

120GB storage 1T NOW

[@moussaself7703]

Andreas A. a le verb.

[@margrietoregan828]

Go on STEEMIT, Andreas !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@MatsuYoda]

Margriet O'Regan gtfo

[@MatsuYoda]

White Powder steemit is a scam and I'm telling her to gtfo. as in. Get the fuck out before they take your money.