Bitcoin node at every home

[IceLincoln]

I just saw in a news on Telegram that President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador just announced plans to set up a Bitcoin node in every home.
El Salvador under Bukele does take bitcoin adoption to next level. Now part of daily life, what a bold declaration.

Building this infrastructure will not only strengthen Bitcoin’s decentralized network but also let citizens actively participate in the global crypto economy. We’re witnessing the blockchain becoming a key part of the country’s economy.

El Salvador has already made significant strides in Bitcoin adoption, from making it a legal tender to systematically purchasing Bitcoin to reduce national debt. With favourable regulations and crypto friendly policies the country has positioned itself as home to crypto firms like Bitfinex and Tether recently announcing moving in.

By decentralizing financial services, El Salvador hopes to reduce its reliance on centralized financial institutions and foster economic autonomy among its citizens.
This move is a very bold one as the country continues to push the boundaries of bitcoin adoption, it will be interesting to see how this initiative unfolds and what impact it will have on the global crypto economy.
It’s just a declaration until it is done! We are still waiting for the bitcoin city at the base of the conchagua volcano.

[avikz]

El-Salvador is moving towards the goal. Kuddos to that! It was fairly criticized by their own citizens at the beginning but if we look at it now, it was a great decision!

Now setting up bitcoin node at every home in El-Salvador is another bold move I would say. Because that wouldn't bring in any profit to its citizens. There's no revenue from the node. So I am sure this decision is also going to be highly criticized.

[apogio]

Now setting up bitcoin node at every home in El-Salvador is another bold move I would say. Because that wouldn't bring in any profit to its citizens. There's no revenue from the node. So I am sure this decision is also going to be highly criticized.

It doesn't have to bring profit.
It literally costs nothing to run a node, but it's super important for all of us. Essentially nodes are for Bitcoin, what lungs are for the human body. Vitally important!

[Callido]

Is it a mandatory offer or basically optional?

It's a great move from the government, if majority countries can take steps like this, i believe it will be easier for investors and the community, the more privacy and decentralized we can become.

Now setting up bitcoin node at every home in El-Salvador is another bold move I would say. Because that wouldn't bring in any profit to its citizens. There's no revenue from the node. So I am sure this decision is also going to be highly criticized.

It doesn't have to bring profit.
It literally costs nothing to run a node, but it's super important for all of us. Essentially nodes are for Bitcoin, what lungs are for the human body. Vitally important!

Asking, Don't you require electricity to run a node? Asking about profits is not actually bad specifically for those who do not tolerate Bitcoin, sure there are critics and those who wouldn't even with profits attempt to run nodes.

[apogio]

Asking, Don't you require electricity to run a node? Asking about profits is not actually bad specifically for those who do not tolerate Bitcoin, sure there are critics and those who wouldn't even with profits attempt to run nodes.

I assume that it won't be mandatory, but rather voluntary. I suppose the government will pay for the instalment.

Yes, the nodes require electricity, but depending on the hardware (of course), the cost of an average node is not easily noticeable on the electricity bill.

[hd49728]

I just saw in a news on Telegram that President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador just announced plans to set up a Bitcoin node in every home.
El Salvador under Bukele does take bitcoin adoption to next level. Now part of daily life, what a bold declaration.

It is only a noisy plan from him, to catch more attention from the world to El Salvador.

Bitcoin network needs more hashrate from Bitcoin miners and more Bitcoin nodes from both Bitcoin mining pools, Bitcoin miners, and Bitcoin users. If people understand helpfulness of a Bitcoin full node, they will run their own full node.

Guides to run a Bitcoin full node are needed.
[Guide] How to run a Bitcoin Core full node for under 50 bucks!

[MA2LX]

Good news for the Bitcoin community, I also saw this news on TCR. This will add more decentralization level for Bitcoin network, according to Helgi Library data, as of 2020 there were around 1,530,000 households in El Salvador, which means the addition of 1,530,000 Bitcoin nodes regardless of whether this becomes a necessity or not, but I agree with @apogio's opinion that this it will just be voluntary, because that sounds more reasonable.

Source:
1. https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2025/01/15/el-salvador-plans-bitcoin-nodes-in-every-home-bold-move-or-illusion
2. https://www.helgilibrary.com/indicators/number-of-households/el-salvador

[satscraper]

This will add more decentralization level for Bitcoin network,

I don't think that  all those  1,530,000 households ^{should they really install nodes} will add too much to degree of Bitcoin decentralization as the latter implies  that nodes should be also dispersed over the whole world rather than be placed at geographically narrow area. ^{El  Salvador is too small country.}

[slapper]

People seek clarity as much as change. The whole idea of a node in every house is both radical and confusing. Nodes build the network, but do they increase household incomes? Maybe yes, maybe no. Though the actual issue is "who benefits," right now it's a glitzy scheme that could increase crypto consumption. Is our goal expanding El Salvador's reputation as a crypto hub or helping regular people?

Education, support, and user-friendly interfaces have to be part of this puzzle. It makes little sense to expose advanced technologies to people who might never experience actual benefit. Here is where legislators either leave their people wondering or accomplish something amazing: integrating decentralization into daily life. I see potential for everyday folks to sidestep traditional banking fees, maybe own their finances, maybe break free from middlemen. If there is no actual plan, though, it will turn into yet another half-finished project like that metropolis close to the volcano. Real actions must accompany bitcoin acceptance or it is to stay a headline with little influence

[Patikno]

El Salvador's move may sound strange and has been widely criticized, but I believe this is the beginning of progress for the country, both in the early stages of building a great economy and will also provide prosperity for its citizens. I wonder why so many people criticize this, even though El Salvador has previously provided evidence by gaining prosperity from Bitcoin. And, not only from the government side but also its citizens have received many good impacts, one of which I read was news about a taxi driver in the country getting benefits and becoming rich because of the El Salvador Government Policy which allows crypto or precisely Bitcoin to be a legal means of payment.

Reference :  Watcher - Bitcoin Turns Taxi Driver into Entrepreneur

[MA2LX]

I don't think that  all those  1,530,000 households ^{should they really install nodes} will add too much to degree of Bitcoin decentralization as the latter implies  that nodes should be also dispersed over the whole world rather than be placed at geographically narrow area. ^{El  Salvador is too small country.}

Agree & disagree.

Agree that nodes should be more spread throughout the world rather than just being centralized in one area, because if a blackout occurs there it will turn off all decentralized power in that area. Disagree because according to theory the greater the number of units running nodes, the higher the level of decentralization of a network.

[passwordnow]

I feel jealous about what's happening in El Salvador in terms of Bitcoin growth. While it could be taxing forcing this to happen for every household but the benefits are there if they will look at the brighter side of it. The reason is true, this makes every single person in there to participate in the Bitcoin community and economy. This forces them to learn many aspects that are circulating with Bitcoin from nodes, to markets, to trading, to mining and understanding volatility and the security part of the Bitcoin network, etc.

[Plaguedeath]

Why Nayib Bukele not just install all the devices at one place and run it? setting up every device at every home is really not effective and efficient, if the device broken, they need to take care each of them and who gonna pay the electricity bills? the idea isn't viable IMO.

It's better for them to strengthening their wallet because in the last year their wallet were hacked.

[ranochigo]

from making it a legal tender to systematically purchasing Bitcoin to reduce national debt. With favourable regulations and crypto friendly policies the country has positioned itself as home to crypto firms like Bitfinex and Tether recently announcing moving in.

You sure? https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/GGXWDG_NGDP@WEO/SLV?zoom=SLV&highlight=SLV

Running Bitcoin nodes should be voluntary. For a country where a significant portion of the country is living at or below the poverty line, he really does know how to market himself to the crypto community. As a country, he should be focused on his economy and not coming up with frivolous and unrealistic plans or proposals which does nothing to improve his community.

[ABCbits]

Sorry, but this proposal sound insane. I agree with other member that running full node should be on voluntary basis. Besides, amount of the money could be used for something else such as,
1. More campaign to encourage business accept Bitcoin and citizen to pay with Bitcoin.
2. Buy more Bitcoin into their reserve.
3. Other important national/state project.

[john_egbert]

Sorry, but this proposal sound insane. I agree with other member that running full node should be on voluntary basis. Besides, amount of the money could be used for something else such as,
1. More campaign to encourage business accept Bitcoin and citizen to pay with Bitcoin.
2. Buy more Bitcoin into their reserve.
3. Other important national/state project.

Agreed.
The project is great, but the scale would be too much, imo, for the money spent on it, probably.
Lots of other possibilities to get people in better shape than that.

[justdimin]

This move is a very bold one as the country continues to push the boundaries of bitcoin adoption, it will be interesting to see how this initiative unfolds and what impact it will have on the global crypto economy.
It’s just a declaration until it is done! We are still waiting for the bitcoin city at the base of the conchagua volcano.

As long as he keeps his promise to grow into a bitcoin oriented nation, they are going to benefit a lot more from this. Remember, El Salvador isn't some super wealthy nation, even a billion dollars is a good amount of money for them, this isn't the USA we are talking about, El Salvador could use this attention it's garnering from the crypto community and use that to improve their nation a lot. A nation of 6 million people give or take, so that means if they make enough money, they could literally just live off that without even needing to do much.

We are talking about a nation that is growing enough rich thanks to crypto that, they could just have all the crypto companies in there, every big one could start their headquarters there, and we could see their tax would pay for everything, we could literally have 0% tax on salaries and such, making the nation much better. Hence, it's not like the USA or any other high number of people nation, low population number helps them a lot.

[Don Pedro Dinero]

Agree & disagree.

Agree that nodes should be more spread throughout the world rather than just being centralized in one area, because if a blackout occurs there it will turn off all decentralized power in that area. Disagree because according to theory the greater the number of units running nodes, the higher the level of decentralization of a network.

I don't know why there are always such pessimistic people in these threads. There were also pessimistic people when Bukele started buying bitcoin and I'm sure there will be negative people when strategic reserves are set up in various countries.

In a more simplified way, more nodes seem to me to be very good news. Then we can debate whether this concentration of nodes or other aspects are not as positive as they might seem at first glance. But there is one aspect that seems to me to be extremely positive for the population and that I don't see that anyone has commented on: Bukele wants to put a computer in every house, and I doubt very much that every house has a computer as of today in El Salvador.

[satscraper]

I don't think that  all those  1,530,000 households ^{should they really install nodes} will add too much to degree of Bitcoin decentralization as the latter implies  that nodes should be also dispersed over the whole world rather than be placed at geographically narrow area. ^{El  Salvador is too small country.}

Agree & disagree.

Agree that nodes should be more spread throughout the world rather than just being centralized in one area, because if a blackout occurs there it will turn off all decentralized power in that area. Disagree because according to theory the greater the number of units running nodes, the higher the level of decentralization of a network.

Theory which relies on Nakomoto Coefficient to measure network decentralization states that nodes placed at one place are not decentralized at all. Particularly when we talk solely about nodes and try to measure their influence on network decentralization we need to answer following questions

Thus, I insist that contribution of this small country into existing decentralization   will be miserable ^{even if the relevant nodes will be installed on every street corner}.

[avikz]

Now setting up bitcoin node at every home in El-Salvador is another bold move I would say. Because that wouldn't bring in any profit to its citizens. There's no revenue from the node. So I am sure this decision is also going to be highly criticized.

It doesn't have to bring profit.
It literally costs nothing to run a node, but it's super important for all of us. Essentially nodes are for Bitcoin, what lungs are for the human body. Vitally important!

I am very well aware of it. However, it requires a large amount of space to run the node. It requires electricity and a great internet connection to be able to sync the Blockchain. Moreover it needs a computing system.

What I am saying is that, it's a bold decision by the president. A lot of people may not be willing to invest into something which doesn't bring any revenue. So there's a high chance that such decision will be highly criticized.