The impression I was under from friends is that running a full node wasn’t really worth it until I was dealing with several million SATS. What say you?
If you run a node you can just use nostr:npub1getal6ykt05fsz5nqu4uld09nfj3y3qxmv8crys4aeut53unfvlqr80nfm for the LNURL service and all your zaps are custodial. The one disadvantage is that if your node is offline, your zaps will fail. The other option is to just withdraw any sats you don’t want to use on a daily basis to self custody on Phoenix, Mutiny, etc.
Discussion
Running a full node without lightning is still useful for other reasons, but once you get to the point of opening payment channels you’ll most likely want to have some fairly sizeable ones. There are some ways to jumpstart that, however, such as paying for inbound liquidity from a provider, or joining liquidity swaps with other noderunners. It all comes down to personal preference and what it’s worth to you.
For most people, running a full node can be intimidating, which is why I love to see more lightweight self-custodial options appearing. They still haven’t solved the problem of having a static Lightning address yet, but this should become easier with BOLT-12, which will offer static addresses without a web server.
Thank you for the insight. Right now I’m just zapping, and beginning to look at it as an investment/savings for us. Better than letting a bank leverage my deposit for fractional reserve lending.
I’ve got a ways to go before I’m ready to fully invest in node running, but I may set one up eventually to play with, albeit with pretty limited liquidity.