A node is so when you receive bitcoin into your wallet you know for a fact it’s real Bitcoin.
If you don’t use your own node you are trusting Wallet of Satoshi or other wallet’s nodes to verify the bitcoin is real for you. There is a lot to learn about nodes, but if you are new, just keep enjoying playing with lightning until you can find the time to learn more.
🤔🤔 Is it worth starting one, what’s upside and downside?
Running a node is like being your own bank. There’s very few downsides except you must learn some new material. Life is much better with a node. We are still early in Bitcoin so sometimes it can be buggy, but the basic stuff is very secure and workable.
Cost is also very low. Maybe like $250-400 depending if you build it yourself or order one that’s plug and play.
There looks to be more Raspberry Pi 4s on the way this year, which will bring down the high markups.
That’s great! Old computers work too if you got one lying around.
I might be a special kind of weird gig, but I have my own half rack with multiple servers. They are mostly off now, but I might consider spinning one up after I learn on my puny Nuc8 🐶🐾🤔🫡
That’s not weird if you know what to do with that many servers. I’ve got 3 nodes so I can relate on a smaller level.
