The crypto community likes to debate whether proof of work mining (POW) or proof of stake mining (POS) should reign supreme. But the thing about mining is that it isn’t the only technology that keeps the crypto machine working.
Although the miners sequence the transactions into a block, it is the nodes that determine if the transactions themselves are valid and follow the consensus rules.
Why would you want to run a node?
Running your own Full node means you no longer have to ask someone else if the transaction went through, if it was valid. You now have an authoritative record of your own that answers that question.
And here are a couple other reasons why running your own node is beneficial.
It gives you a choice in the event of a hard fork:
In the possible event of a hard fork where both blockchains remain active with economic activity on each side like the one in Ethereum/Ethereum Classic, running a full node is the only way you can validate the rules of the new or old blockchain, according to your preference.
It increases your level of privacy:
Using a centralized, lightweight or even SPV wallet will never be as private as running a full node. Since you rely on third-party servers to broadcast your transactions for you, those servers will be aware of which addresses belong to you.
You may have noticed that I have not mentioned any type of monetary reward or incentive for running a full node. Even though Bitcoin has not organized a plan to compensate users who run full nodes yet, Dash has.
Unlike Bitcoin which does not require a set amount of it’s coins to be used as collateral in order to qualify as a full node, Dash requires you to have 1000 of it’s coins to qualify for a master node, in return, Dash allocates 47.5% of it’s block reward to go to it’s masternodes. The 1000 dash coins remain in the persons possession, there is no need for you to transfer your private keys, and at any time you can remove yourself from the master node by reclaiming your collateral of the 1000 dash.
The dash master node does more than just verify transactions, they also coordinate the mixing of coins and participate in voting for budget funding.
Bottom line is this, if you truly value this epic thing that is decentralized cryptocurrency and you’re looking for a way to be a part of the movement, consider getting involved by running your own node. Be sure to check out the description of this video for additional links and information regarding what you’ll need to set up a node.
Additional info/ Sources:
What is a node? https://bitcoin.org/en/full-node#what...
Why run a node? http://bitcoinist.com/6-reasons-run-b... & https://news.bitcoin.com/full-bitcoin...
Andreas Antonopoulos Explains Nodes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNk7n...
How to Run a Bitcoin Node: https://btcmanager.com/hold-bitcoin-r...
Actual cost of running a full node: https://www.reddit.com/r/btc/comments...
Coindesk Article: http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-nodes...
Earn Money with a Dash Masternode: https://www.dash.org/news/earn-passiv...
Learn more about dash masternodes: https://www.dash.org/masternodes2/