The benefit of serving as a node

[Aliosky]

I've been learning about the structure of the Bitcoin network, and I'm really curious in how anonymous and decentralized it is. I have a couple parts that are unclear. I hope my questions are valid

-What is the advantages of serving as a node on the bitcoin network for transaction confirmation.

-Are there any site or sites through which one can view the html version of the bitcoin network? Please kindly let me know

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[Edwardard]

I've been learning about the structure of the Bitcoin network, and I'm really curious in how anonymous and decentralized it is.

Bitcoin network is not anonymous but pseudo-anonymous (meaning while your identity is not known, your transactions can still be linked and known to the public).

What is the advantages of serving as a node on the bitcoin network

There are many advantages of having your own node such as it removes the need of using a block explorer to verify the status of your transaction, with a node, you do not need to trust anyone, including your brokerage, block explorer, or wallet provider, etc.
Refer: Why should I run a Bitcoin node.

[witcher_sense]

I've been learning about the structure of the Bitcoin network, and I'm really curious in how anonymous and decentralized it is. I have a couple parts that are unclear. I hope my questions are valid

The Bitcoin network is not anonymous, bitcoin nodes need to know IP-addresses of other nodes in order to find them and communicate. But metadata like that allows for determination of approximate location and other personal infofmation, such as system configuration. Bitcoin transactions are also not anonymous, because the blockchain needs to be transparent and auditable to eliminate trust requirements.

-What is the advantages of serving as a node on the bitcoin network for transaction confirmation.

You make Bitcoin more decentralized, and your financial affairs less dependent on third-parties.

-Are there any site or sites through which one can view the html version of the bitcoin network? Please kindly let me know

There are plenty, I guess. But the most notable is https://bitnodes.io/nodes/live-map/

[jackg]

I've been learning about the structure of the Bitcoin network, and I'm really curious in how anonymous and decentralized it is. I have a couple parts that are unclear. I hope my questions are valid

The Bitcoin network is not anonymous, bitcoin nodes need to know IP-addresses of other nodes in order to find them and communicate. But metadata like that allows for determination of approximate location and other personal infofmation, such as system configuration. Bitcoin transactions are also not anonymous, because the blockchain needs to be transparent and auditable to eliminate trust requirements.

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You can take steps to improve your anonymity though, for example you can use tor+ a vpn/bridge.


I think one of the main advantages of having your own node is reducing the chances of your wallet addresses being linked together (as they can be linked when using spv wallets like electrum by the server you're connecting to). If you connect to an spv client without a vpn/tor they may be able to link those funds to your physical location too (there's nothing to suggest this has ever been done yet though).

[Charles-Tim]

You can run your own node for privacy reasons, in a way there is no central server to link your bitcoin wallet addresses and IP address. If you run your own node, your node connect with other nodes in validating transactions and help in the decentralized network. If you do not run your own node, just as Jackg said, you can use Tor for anonymity, but you still depend on central server, in a way they can not know your IP address, but central server can still link your wallet addresses together.

[moonie]

Running a full node is nice of you to do, it helps keep miners accountable and compliant with the Bitcoin protocol. It also provides you the benefit of having your own relay for new transactions and blocks. You never have to trust anyone’s account of the network because your node performs all verification independently.

[Aliosky]

Everything duly noted and I think its all clear to me now. Thank you all for sharing and guiding me with me your knowledge and making me have a better understanding of how a node works.

[KingsDen]

Running a full node is nice of you to do, it helps keep miners accountable and compliant with the Bitcoin protocol. It also provides you the benefit of having your own relay for new transactions and blocks. You never have to trust anyone’s account of the network because your node performs all verification independently.

I think running of a full node is of more important to the bitcoin network than to the individual running the node. As long as we have people willing to run nodes, we are sure of the continues decentralization of bitcoin network, while the individual gain could be being able to contribute to the network security and decision making of bitcoin.

-Are there any site or sites through which one can view the html version of the bitcoin network? Please kindly let me know

I don't get you fully on what you mean by the html version of bitcoin network.
Bitcoin is an open source code protocol and the repo is available on the github. Is that what you meant?

[WatChe]

I've been learning about the structure of the Bitcoin network, and I'm really curious in how anonymous and decentralized it is.

Bitcoin network is not anonymous but pseudo-anonymous (meaning while your identity is not known, your transactions can still be linked and known to the public).

The 10th Section of Bitcoin Whitepaper i.e. 'Privacy' explains this concept of 'Pseudo-Anonymous'. In Traditional privacy model like in Banks privacy is achieved by blocking access to information to people involved. In Bitcoin privacy is achieved by keeping the Public keys anonymous, so everyone can see that someone is sending bitcoin to someone  else but don't know the actual identity of the person.


                                            10. Privacy

[serveria.com]

I've been learning about the structure of the Bitcoin network, and I'm really curious in how anonymous and decentralized it is. I have a couple parts that are unclear. I hope my questions are valid

-What is the advantages of serving as a node on the bitcoin network for transaction confirmation.

In short: more privacy, more security, verify transactions yourself, removing unnecessary trusted third parties. I'm not mentioning good job you'll be doing by strengthening and decentralizing the network. 

[NotATether]

-Are there any site or sites through which one can view the html version of the bitcoin network? Please kindly let me know

I don't get you fully on what you mean by the html version of bitcoin network.
Bitcoin is an open source code protocol and the repo is available on the github. Is that what you meant?

I think Aliosky's referring to some web page where you can see the list of all the running Bitcoin nodes. In that case, you can open http://bitnodes.io which has already recorded all this information (and even made a 3D map out of it, organized by ISP and stuff)

I think one of the main advantages of having your own node is reducing the chances of your wallet addresses being linked together (as they can be linked when using spv wallets like electrum by the server you're connecting to). If you connect to an spv client without a vpn/tor they may be able to link those funds to your physical location too (there's nothing to suggest this has ever been done yet though).

Well, since Bitcoin Core traffic is not encrypted, unless you are connecting through Tor then you will leak all the transactions you are sending which can then be correlated to your IP address and location. In the case of a datacenter location, people can phone the operator and get the real customer in most cases.

[jackg]

I think one of the main advantages of having your own node is reducing the chances of your wallet addresses being linked together (as they can be linked when using spv wallets like electrum by the server you're connecting to). If you connect to an spv client without a vpn/tor they may be able to link those funds to your physical location too (there's nothing to suggest this has ever been done yet though).

Well, since Bitcoin Core traffic is not encrypted, unless you are connecting through Tor then you will leak all the transactions you are sending which can then be correlated to your IP address and location. In the case of a datacenter location, people can phone the operator and get the real customer in most cases.

I don't think linking your transaction to your ip actually happens for the average user. Your node only connects to about 10 nodes and those nodes then reach the other few thousand nodes so no one would really have an accurate picture of what your ip the transaction correlates to.

Block explorers also got rid of that as a function and I think it might've been because of them receiving most transactions from the same few nodes (they also didn't seem very accurate - "relayed by 0.0.0.0" I saw a few times on blockchain.info).

Obviously if you're not using a vpn and/or tor your ISP and the nodes you're connecting to are likely able to know you're hosting a bitcoin node and can your location/bill payer's name from that.

[BlackHatCoiner]

What a full node does provide:

• Privacy. You don't need intermediaries to load up your wallet.
• Security. You don't rely on third parties which might serve you incorrect data (with inability for verification). Also, privacy equates to more security, because there is risk that is mitigated.
• Minimum bandwidth benefit for the network.
• It allows you to run a lightning node, which you couldn't do safely otherwise.

What a full node does NOT provide:

• Vote. You don't vote for the network. Running a full node is procedure that concerns the one who does it. Voting for the order of transactions is done with Proof-of-Work, and you only get to enforce that rule. You can neither vote for the denial of a transaction, nor can you vote for any other consensus rule change. If you want to change consensus, you're free to do it regardless the people who will agree (as in Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin SV etc).
• Impressive bandwidth benefit. That would be the case if there were very few nodes; there are currently about 13,000, far more than needed for a network to operate.