Should I, we, run a bitcoin node?

[Pocketchange]

Not your node- not your confirmation. 

I feel like I have learned a lot from running a node. 

[bkelly13]

There's some money involved if you run a lightning node, but this requires owning bitcoin, so I doubt that's what OP is asking about and what he's able to do at the moment.

How much BTC is needed to run a lightning node?  Is that BTC tied up with the node?  Is it put at a risk?

And on that risk note, answers in this thread indicate that my transactions are more secure if I have my own full node.  Looking in the other direction, my transactions are at more risk when I do not have my own node.  Just how much more risk is there?

If I am running a wallet such as Trezor, and I send or receive some BTC, how much risk am I exposed to?

I suspect that if I am using Coinbase, and put in a buy or sell for BTC, the only risk is that the dollar cost of BTC changes while the transaction is being consummated.  Is there another risk I am not aware of?

[franky1]

How much BTC is needed to run a lightning node?  Is that BTC tied up with the node?  Is it put at a risk?

that silly network requires you to lock funds up, predicting your spending habit of more then a month. some suggest atleast 10 payments of value as the minimum utility to be worth the effort of getting a good fee per payment vs the open close fee cost

the next thing is they say to guarantee a path to destination, depending on how big the amounts you want to move, dictates how successful a payment will be.. so you should have upto 4+ channel(accounts) meaning 4x the expected spend for that time scale if your spending big.
 
the next thing is they want you to allocate some of your funds to route other people payments. meaning you dont get to use all your funds so again you need to 2x the value of each channel if you want to offer 50% of liquidity to the routing network

many people find they on average lock up $160 of value. but only able to successfully make payments 100% attempts for values under $16 per payment
EG $16 * 10payments *1 channels= $160 (allocate 50% to other users routed payments =$320)

if you are looking to make more then $16 a payment and do more then 10 payments before closing the channel then you may need to to lock up and split up more then the multiplier of total liquidity by having more channels to ensure better success attempts when making payments.

EG 2 channels if payments are ~$75 and if doing 20 payments per open-close session
$75 * 20payments *2 channels= $3000 (allocate 50% to other users routed payments =$6000)


the silly network is not simple have funds spend funds

[Sarah Azhari]

To the question:  Have you considered running a Bitcoin node?  Why did you or why did you not start a node?  If you are running a node, private or working for a company, have you any important thoughts to share?

I don't run a Bitcoin node yet, because I don't have a stable internet network in my local town. But, I installed Bitcoin core wallet which always running on my PC to download the blockchain daily and the wallet always ran automatically when my PC started, so never forget to update block. Beside unstable internet, I also have difficult to setting network configurations, I always don’t have inbound connections. Maybe I have a problem and have wrong step to setting internet modem (router), and Configuring DHCP. I always read The instruction several times. But the connection never connected so far.

[Poker Player]

There was a time when running a node was important, but I don’t think that time is here anymore. Unless you’re running some sort of mining pool or accepting BTC through some sort of automated storefront it doesn’t make a ton of sense to do. It’s more a waste of resources than anything and will likely have a negative effect on your hardware.

It's interesting, it's not common to read this opinion.  Can you please explain why it should be less important today than in the past?  Do you mean that there are already enough nodes today?

Ideally, shouldn't there be one per user, or as many as possible?

I too would be interested in a more detailed explanation of that opinion, although I am sure it will be controversial because I think most of the forum will disagree. For privacy, for example, I think it is a good reason to run a node, as mentioned. Also, as for the node network, in principle, it seems that the more the better, no?

[Hispo]

The effect is almost zero for you, you don't have to run a full node to invest or hold Bitcoin.

There is an effect, if we consider where the person who is running the node lives and the associated costs to running a node: internet, electricity and the price of the hardware. Here in my country one would not be able to run a full node and keep it on, withiut having to pay for a descent internet connection (which is expensive to anyone here) However, because of the altruistic nature of running a node, so the network can be more decentralized, I would dare to say it is one of the most reliable ways to know someone is a true Bitcoiner which loves this community truly by heart.
I hope to be able to run my own node someday, eventually, at least for a couple of years. 

[hd49728]

Not your node- not your confirmation. 

I feel like I have learned a lot from running a node. 

As a Bitcoin node, you don't make confirmations. You do not have a power to do this but who can do it?

Bitcoin miners mine blocks, make confirmation for Bitcoin transactions and deliver those transactions to Bitcoin network. Bitcoin node validate those transactions and if valid, the node will propagate those transactions to other nodes on Bitcoin network.

[pixie85]

There's some money involved if you run a lightning node, but this requires owning bitcoin, so I doubt that's what OP is asking about and what he's able to do at the moment.

How much BTC is needed to run a lightning node?  Is that BTC tied up with the node?  Is it put at a risk?

Depends. The lowest amount to start a channel is the transaction fee + amount of coins you want to put in the channel. The less you put there the less transactions you will process.
Nodes are chosen based on capacity and they have their own rank. If you want your node to have high rank you need a lot of capacity. I don't run my own so I'm only telling you what I know about it, not from experience.

I saw a few people share their experience and usually if they had between 1 and 2 bitcoin locked in the network they were able to earn $10-20 a month from it. 

BTC is tied to the node but it's not at risk.

And on that risk note, answers in this thread indicate that my transactions are more secure if I have my own full node.  

Yes. You can route your transactions through your own node.

Looking in the other direction, my transactions are at more risk when I do not have my own node.  Just how much more risk is there?

I'd say very little. Node proponents tell you to run it because it contributes to the network. The more nodes the more robust the network becomes and if you have a lot of bitcoin you want the network to work well. For someone with 10m dollars in bitcoin, spending $500 on a plug and play bitcoin node is dust.

If I am running a wallet such as Trezor, and I send or receive some BTC, how much risk am I exposed to?

If your system is not infected and you don't make any mistakes like send it to a wrong address or set the fee too high, you're not at risk. I've sent hundreds of transactions in the last 6 or 7 years and none of them was blocked, hijacked or lost.

I suspect that if I am using Coinbase, and put in a buy or sell for BTC, the only risk is that the dollar cost of BTC changes while the transaction is being consummated.  Is there another risk I am not aware of?

Yes, but if you're paying for something and that transaction is sent, it's over. Payment processors send information to the store and it's the same with ATMs. If you exchanged bitcoin at 30000 dollars and by the time it confirmed the price was 29500, they won't cancel it or send the money back to you.