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What is a blockchain node?
A node refers to a computer in a blockchain network, including phones, miners, servers, etc. A node can be operated by regular wallet users, miners, and multiple collaborative mining pool users. For example, Bitcoin is a public chain, and when we run a program from a computer that we have connected to the Internet, that computer is a node in the Bitcoin network. For a public chain like Bitcoin, theoretically, you download the full blockchain and participate in transactions and mining to be considered a node. However, in Bitcoin right now, miners, full nodes, light nodes, and even regular users may all be called nodes in different contexts.
The pi node that is currently online in the pi network is a distributed public chain system that can use computers (Apple computers, ordinary Windows computers, and cloud servers as nodes. You can understand
that a pi node is a computer system with pi node programs installed, including servers, home computers, office computers, etc.; pi nodes are online, plus the original pi network cell phone small nodes, and supernodes will be online in the future, and these widely distributed nodes constitute the entire pi distributed network system.
characteristics of blockchain nodes.
With storage space, you can store block data on TF cards, USB drives, mobile hard drives, computers, etc.; connected to the network, all the devices in the storage space must be connected to the network; participating in the blockchain, you need to run the blockchain corresponding program on the storage space and conduct transactions through the visualization terminal. Each computer with a digital currency client installed and connected to the digital currency blockchain is an effective node of the digital currency blockchain.
There are as many such computers or cell phones in this world as there are nodes on the blockchain. The blockchain is a distributed system with many nodes in it, and these nodes are simply understood as computers or servers connected through the internet. And then, depending on the nature of the blockchain, there are different ways to become a node and, of course, different definitions of what a node is.
For a public chain like Bitcoin, theoretically, you download the full blockchain and participate in transactions and mining to be considered a node. However, in Bitcoin nowadays, miners, full nodes, light nodes, and even regular users may all be called nodes in different contexts. But in any case, the Bitcoin system is not so much “automatically updating the blockchain when you connect to the network” as it is that you have to update the entire blockchain if you want to mine or trade, which is not an automatic obligation, but a voluntary thing.
For public chains, it’s that you have to become a node according to the rules if you want to benefit from the chain, not the other way around. Whereas private and federated chains are the other way around—to become a node first and then follow the rules.
What does it mean to be a node in a blockchain? In fact, the role of a blockchain node is primarily when the user adds a new block of information to the blockchain, a specific node will transmit the block to all the nodes on the chain. The more full nodes running in the blockchain, the stronger the recovery ability in the face of problems. That is, when the data of the blockchain is distributed in so many devices, it is difficult for corrupt entities to tamper with it.
Why have a blockchain node?
In theory, a complete blockchain could be executed on a single node, but because it would be stored on a single device, it is very vulnerable to situations such as power outages, hacks, or system failures. The more complete nodes run on a good blockchain, the more resilient they will be in the face of such disasters. When the data of a blockchain is distributed across so many nodes, it is very difficult to delete all of them. Even in a global crisis where a large number of nodes suddenly become inaccessible, a single node can keep the entire blockchain running. Even if all nodes are disconnected, only one node with a complete blockchain history is needed to reconnect and make all the data accessible again.
The relationship between Bitcoin and blockchain is as follows: Blockchain is the underlying technology of Bitcoin, and Bitcoin is the most prominent application of blockchain.
The concept of Bitcoin was originally proposed by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009 as a peer-to-peer electronic cash system, or more directly, node-to-node.
Each transaction is broadcast by the originator to surrounding nodes, which receive it and then broadcast it to their own surrounding nodes, eventually spreading to the entire network. Every bitcoin wallet is a node, and the node with the complete blockchain ledger is called a “full node.”
Nodes
1. The term “node” is a very broad concept, which means different things in different contexts and systems. For example, the node in a blockchain and the node in a p2p network do not have the same meaning, and the nodes in different blockchains are different. Therefore, it is not possible to make a generalization here.
2. Since the questioner put “node” together with blockchain and bitcoin, let’s talk about what a node is in the blockchain. In traditional blockchain networks, there are three types of nodes that provide different functions in the network. These node types are
They only issue transactions and receive blockchain information from third parties. They follow the most powerful mining dynamics and are known as light wallets, widely used on mobile devices or simply by people who do not want to download the entire blockchain.
3. Full Node: Installing full node software, such as Bitcoin Core, in addition to having the most secure wallet, will download a copy of the blockchain and become a node in the Bitcoin network. As a result, you will issue transactions, propagate them to the rest of the network, and verify that the consistency rules are met.
4. Mining Nodes: In addition to operating their preferred software miner (BTCMiner, CGMiner), the miner must have a copy of the blockchain. These nodes publish and propagate transactions in addition to mining bitcoins, thus helping to create new blocks.
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