I say this so gently because I recognize that second order thinking and game theory are super complex and bitcoin seems like it has a million moving parts

Especially now

But you’re node probably does not count as a merchant node

So technically your node is just a tool for your to validate your transactions which is absolutely wonderful and totally ground breaking because never before in history have we had this capability

No other blockchain can operate in quite this same way besides maybeeeee Monero at cost the way bitcoin does

But your node isn’t a vote because it’s not a merchant node

Bitcoin follows two key players when it comes to hypothetical “voting” merchants and miners… and the percentage of full nodes that constitute these two players are a small club and baby we ain’t in it

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What do you mean a merchant node? 8333 is open so I'm a full node runner. Is this not what you're referring to?

If you’re using your node as a wallet then yes, technically you are a merchant

But, let’s say I walk into a bar and Jack walks into a bar… who do you think holds more attention and influence over how the bar operates from there on out?

Ok, I see what you're saying

I'm curious if there's any way to get data on the # of merchant nodes

This is actually a great point

2 things with that 1) dark pools shield observation and dark pools constitute a lot of mining/ merchant activity

And

2) We would have to have some way of deciphering what constitutes “enough” economic weight to constitute influence over network rules

Ability to sustain a hard fork? Which would be some kind of taxation hard fork by the state I guess?

Imma check voskuil

This is prob the best explanation

economic-security = receipts * distribution(receipts) * [merchants / humanity]

confirmation-security = hash-power * distribution(hash-power) * [miners / humanity]

https://github.com/libbitcoin/libbitcoin-system/wiki/Qualitative-Security-Model

Economic activity would grind to a halt when there's sustained censorship