$$Why should we have a #bitcoin node at home?$$

SEVERAL REASONS

1 Privacy: When you use a wallet from your phone or your computer that is not connected to your node, that wallet connects to the closest node managed by a third party, so that this node then distributes the transaction to the rest of the network. In addition to sending transaction information, which includes the amount you are sending, the source wallet and the destination wallet, you also send information about the IP from which you are sending that transaction. In this way, since the node is a 3rd party, they could use that information and use it to do analysis and even sell the information to other companies. In addition to sending transaction information, which includes the amount you are sending, the source wallet and the destination wallet, you also send information about the IP from which you are sending that transaction, the rest of the nodes do not know if the transaction you are sending your node is a transaction of yours or a 3rd party transaction that your node is forwarding. In short, you do not share transaction information with anyone.

2 Censorship resistance: Because? because if you have your own node and you send transactions directly to your node, there is no third party that can block them. This is exactly what the phrase means: “If it’s not your code, it’s not your rules”, and this is essential especially in these times when centralized entities try to block the use of Open Source technology.

3 Ability to validate transactions independently: By this I mean that you do not need to trust a 3rd party to validate transactions on the bitcoin blockchain, since you have the entire record of the transactions saved on your node. On the contrary, if you use a 3rd party site like blockchain com, they can save your IP address and the address or transaction you are searching for and associate your interest in that address with your IP address.

4 Run your own Lightning Network node: Create channels with other nodes and start using lightning network from your node and it even opens up the possibility of generating some income by charging some sats for routing payments.

5 Analysis: If you like to do analysis, by running your own node and having transaction information on the blockchain, you can do analysis of the bitcoin blockchain directly on your node, without having to trust third parties.

6 Strengthening: By doing this, we are strengthening the decentralization, robustness and efficiency of the bitcoin network, since the more places we have nodes installed, there is + redundancy of the information stored in the blockchain and the network becomes more efficient. Having a node is a vote for decentralization.

Data to take into account Having a node implies making an investment. This investment is to buy some pieces of hardware, such as a Raspberry Pi 4, a 1Tb memory disk, a power supply, a microSD card and a network cable. It is necessary to install software to run the node, but the vast majority are free. And if you have a problem with your node, you will have to do your own research to resolve the problem and to continue the operation of your node.