That's a Bitcoiners take. Ignoring the pit falls.

Yes, it's better than nothing.

But to friends and family I will always recommend SimpleX over Signal, just like I recommend Monero over Bitcoin.

My security and privacy depends on them protecting theirs.

The U.S. Government just moved 19,800 BTC, seized Silk Road bitcoin to :coinbase: Coinbase Prime. Strategic reserve? Selling? What do you think?

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Looks like you have it all right.

One of the benefits to a node is connecting your bitcoin and lightning wallets to your "server" instead if someone else's. It's supposed to be more private, I'm not really sure about that.

Also you can run your own mempool app, super private people say it's anonymous because you're only searching your copy of the block chain not the public block chain. I guess someone could connect your ip address together with wallets or transactions you check on and say they are yours? I like my privacy and I do use my own mempool to check my transactions but I it's because it's a tool I have, not something I would start for that tool. I hope that makes sense.

I started a node just because I like tinkering with stuff and it helps with my mental image of how stuff works. Nodes can use down to about 12 watts on something like a raspberry pi. My m900 uses about 45 watts.

I also started with a Nerd Miner, very low power and about 72k hash. They are considered lotto miners because you have a chance to hit the "lottery" every 10 minutes. According to SoloChance.com it has a 1 in 945,027,777,777,778 chance per block. In the 3ish years I've been watching mining one NerdMiner hit and 2 Supra type miners have hit. It is possible just very rare.

Big miners usually need 220v outlets (3000w I think) and plenty of air for cooling and are pretty loud. The best low power to hash rate I have found it the Avalon Nano 3. Its 140w and 4T hash. I got it when they were on indigogo for $150, I actually use it to mine bitcoin cash because I have a lot better chance to hit, then I'll exchange it to btc. I was mining to a pool and was making about $0.03 per day, not really worth it so I set to solo mining and am hoping to hit.

You probably know btc miners use ASIC chips to mine (or video cards). There are a few coins like Verus and Zephyr that cannot be mined with ASIC chips. I have a computer mining Verus that makes about $0.27 per day. Still not much but it's mostly stuff I had collecting dust.

I guess the short answer is mining really isn't worth it unless you're investing thousands in miners and power. Nodes can be handy to run your own wallets and keep a backup of the blockchain. If youre not a tinkering kind of person you might want to save the frustration and not run either one.

Hope this helps, I am definitely not an expert, but I'll help if I can.

Why not?

Feels off

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