I’m just getting started running my own node, so I’ve been trying to figure out the safest route too. Appreciate your breakdown here — super helpful to see the pros/cons laid out. For now I’m leaning toward Core just to keep things stable, but I’ll keep an eye on Knots as it matures. And yeah, totally agree on Ocean vs Stratum V2 — open source feels like the only way to go if we actually care about decentralization.