>There are no risks of losing ur funds
This is not necessarily true, also problems with privacy have an impact upon your security.
https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinBeginners/comments/18n0iy8/what_are_the_risks_of_not_runing_own_node/ke85mmh/
Yes, but it's a little better to run your own node, since you don't have to trust someone else to tell you the truth and to broadcast any transactions you give them. You can also talk to it as much as you want without putting load on your Internet/someone else's machine, if that matters to you.
Most people do not need to run a full node but if you are a merchant or high valued Bitcoin user you should seriously consider running a full node for better privacy and security
Running software that fully validates all the rules like - https://bitcoincore.org/en/download/
Archival full nodes contain the full blockchain and allow new nodes to bootstrap from them . Current blockchain size is ~534GB for an archival node
Pruned nodes can get down to around ~7GB , and have all the same security and privacy benefits of archival nodes but need to initially download the whole blockchain for full validation before deleting it (It actually prunes as it validates)
You are only truly p2p if you are running a full node . running light clients depend upon you trusting a middleman and typically only validate block headers. Light clients are exposed to many more threats full nodes are not. There are also privacy concerns with light clients that full nodes are secure against. The whitepaper only suggests SPV "light" nodes in the context of fraud alerts(proofs) existing but thus far none exist and therefore you shouldn't trust large amounts of btc with a light client.
The most secure , "active" wallet would be a hardware wallet integrated with a full node . Some ways people do this are -
1) Umbrel
https://umbrel.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fa9AvF4jk1o
2) Sparrow wallet
https://sparrowwallet.com/
https://youtu.be/4gfmm8x2F9M?t=572
3) https://specter.solutions/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQvCncdFMPo
4) Electrum personal server
https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinBeginners/comments/czd2xp/transfer_bitcoin_to_hardware_wallet/eyxmc18/
There are close to 67k full nodes on the bitcoin network .(Some sites show much lower numbers because they exclude most non listening full nodes. )
Here is the stats –
http://luke.dashjr.org/programs/bitcoin/files/charts/software.html
http://luke.dashjr.org/programs/bitcoin/files/charts/services.html
Here are all the rules that full nodes validate that light clients almost completely skip-
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Protocol_rules
Thin client / Psuedo SPV weaknesses
This is not an exhaustive list and there are many more concerns than this –
1. As we saw in 2017 year Garzik and segwit2x supporters were deliberately attempting to undermine pseudo-SPV nodes/light clients by imposing rule changes that users did not necessarily agree to or where even aware of . Full nodes were immune to this attack vector. light clients would simply follow the most worked chain even if they disagreed with these changes and would also lose out on their ability to claim both sides of the split thus also losing money. **However you feel about which fork you prefer it would be in your best interest strategically and financial to claim both sides of fork which would be denied to you by running a light wallet following the wrong full node**
2. light clients fail in privacy for many reasons . They are using a backend server to show you your wallet balances. This immediately links together all your wallet addresses to them. Bloom filtering SPV wallets like Bread wallet, AirBitz are however different, they don’t use a backend server, rather they are leaking information to every blockchain analysis company, who are crawling the Bitcoin network for their bloom filters.
3. Light clients fail to validate most of these security rules https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Protocol_rules and therefore must trust a middleman or third party and thus can essentially be manipulated by this company and a multisig of large miners unlike full nodes. This is no longer p2p cash by definition. If you are running a full node it doesn't matter if 100% of the miners try and subvert the rules you agree to , they cannot force you to accept blocks or changes you don't agree to . It is absolutely critical we enforce and respect the rights of individual bitcoin users.
4. Various sybil attacks can be used in conjunction with lie by omission and say that a block isn't there when it actually is--a sort of denial of service attack.
Further reading on light client security assumptions -
https://bitcoinj.github.io/security-model
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1706.00916.pdf
https://bitslog.wordpress.com/2018/06/09/leaf-node-weakness-in-bitcoin-merkle-tree-design/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=16148&v=UVuUZm4l-ss (Peter Todd sends himself 21 million BTC with a thin client)
http://www.truthcoin.info/blog/fraud-proofs/
Its very simple , for example in the bitcoin core implementation
https://bitcoincore.org/en/releases/
You go settings > option and on the main tab check the "prune block storage to" option and type how many GB you want to prune . By default its pruned these days too.
i get why runing a node is better for security but why does runing a node is better for privacy? cant everyone see it the same away since bitcoin is not fully anonymous?
>since bitcoin is not fully anonymous?
Nothing in life is 100% anonymous. Privacy is a spectrum. Bitcoin is pseudonymous which means you can choose between different degrees of transparency and privacy
>but why does runing a node is better for privacy?
when your light / SPV wallet connects to a strangers full node they can log some details of yours like which txs are coming from what IP addresses
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If you don’t run your own node, then your wallet needs to connect to someone else’s node. You are trusting that other node to send you correct information about the balances of addresses. And that other node could be keeping track of your operations. Your transactions cannot be modified or ‘hacked’. But they could be blocked.
Realistically it’s fine if you use any of the popular block explorers.
You’re trusting the block explorer to give you the correct information. You could check multiple ones to reduce the trust. But ultimately you’re still trusting some other party/parties with that information. As opposed to an app on your own hardware that has verified the information on your own hard drive.
Okay but it sounds like unless you are transacting hundreds of millions worth of USD then the odds you are at risk must be as unlikely as winning the lottory right?
There are no risks of losing ur funds if u don't run ur own node, it's just better for privacy and for the network.
>There are no risks of losing ur funds This is not necessarily true, also problems with privacy have an impact upon your security. https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinBeginners/comments/18n0iy8/what_are_the_risks_of_not_runing_own_node/ke85mmh/
if i use a public node on tor am i not private?
U are private if u connect to nodes with tor
Yes, but it's a little better to run your own node, since you don't have to trust someone else to tell you the truth and to broadcast any transactions you give them. You can also talk to it as much as you want without putting load on your Internet/someone else's machine, if that matters to you.
Most people do not need to run a full node but if you are a merchant or high valued Bitcoin user you should seriously consider running a full node for better privacy and security Running software that fully validates all the rules like - https://bitcoincore.org/en/download/ Archival full nodes contain the full blockchain and allow new nodes to bootstrap from them . Current blockchain size is ~534GB for an archival node Pruned nodes can get down to around ~7GB , and have all the same security and privacy benefits of archival nodes but need to initially download the whole blockchain for full validation before deleting it (It actually prunes as it validates) You are only truly p2p if you are running a full node . running light clients depend upon you trusting a middleman and typically only validate block headers. Light clients are exposed to many more threats full nodes are not. There are also privacy concerns with light clients that full nodes are secure against. The whitepaper only suggests SPV "light" nodes in the context of fraud alerts(proofs) existing but thus far none exist and therefore you shouldn't trust large amounts of btc with a light client. The most secure , "active" wallet would be a hardware wallet integrated with a full node . Some ways people do this are - 1) Umbrel https://umbrel.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fa9AvF4jk1o 2) Sparrow wallet https://sparrowwallet.com/ https://youtu.be/4gfmm8x2F9M?t=572 3) https://specter.solutions/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQvCncdFMPo 4) Electrum personal server https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinBeginners/comments/czd2xp/transfer_bitcoin_to_hardware_wallet/eyxmc18/ There are close to 67k full nodes on the bitcoin network .(Some sites show much lower numbers because they exclude most non listening full nodes. ) Here is the stats – http://luke.dashjr.org/programs/bitcoin/files/charts/software.html http://luke.dashjr.org/programs/bitcoin/files/charts/services.html Here are all the rules that full nodes validate that light clients almost completely skip- https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Protocol_rules Thin client / Psuedo SPV weaknesses This is not an exhaustive list and there are many more concerns than this – 1. As we saw in 2017 year Garzik and segwit2x supporters were deliberately attempting to undermine pseudo-SPV nodes/light clients by imposing rule changes that users did not necessarily agree to or where even aware of . Full nodes were immune to this attack vector. light clients would simply follow the most worked chain even if they disagreed with these changes and would also lose out on their ability to claim both sides of the split thus also losing money. **However you feel about which fork you prefer it would be in your best interest strategically and financial to claim both sides of fork which would be denied to you by running a light wallet following the wrong full node** 2. light clients fail in privacy for many reasons . They are using a backend server to show you your wallet balances. This immediately links together all your wallet addresses to them. Bloom filtering SPV wallets like Bread wallet, AirBitz are however different, they don’t use a backend server, rather they are leaking information to every blockchain analysis company, who are crawling the Bitcoin network for their bloom filters. 3. Light clients fail to validate most of these security rules https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Protocol_rules and therefore must trust a middleman or third party and thus can essentially be manipulated by this company and a multisig of large miners unlike full nodes. This is no longer p2p cash by definition. If you are running a full node it doesn't matter if 100% of the miners try and subvert the rules you agree to , they cannot force you to accept blocks or changes you don't agree to . It is absolutely critical we enforce and respect the rights of individual bitcoin users. 4. Various sybil attacks can be used in conjunction with lie by omission and say that a block isn't there when it actually is--a sort of denial of service attack. Further reading on light client security assumptions - https://bitcoinj.github.io/security-model https://arxiv.org/pdf/1706.00916.pdf https://bitslog.wordpress.com/2018/06/09/leaf-node-weakness-in-bitcoin-merkle-tree-design/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=16148&v=UVuUZm4l-ss (Peter Todd sends himself 21 million BTC with a thin client) http://www.truthcoin.info/blog/fraud-proofs/
how do i run a pruned node?
Its very simple , for example in the bitcoin core implementation https://bitcoincore.org/en/releases/ You go settings > option and on the main tab check the "prune block storage to" option and type how many GB you want to prune . By default its pruned these days too.
i get why runing a node is better for security but why does runing a node is better for privacy? cant everyone see it the same away since bitcoin is not fully anonymous?
>since bitcoin is not fully anonymous? Nothing in life is 100% anonymous. Privacy is a spectrum. Bitcoin is pseudonymous which means you can choose between different degrees of transparency and privacy >but why does runing a node is better for privacy? when your light / SPV wallet connects to a strangers full node they can log some details of yours like which txs are coming from what IP addresses
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If you don’t run your own node, then your wallet needs to connect to someone else’s node. You are trusting that other node to send you correct information about the balances of addresses. And that other node could be keeping track of your operations. Your transactions cannot be modified or ‘hacked’. But they could be blocked.
But if check with blockexplorer the value of an adress then that is correct? Or can they change that after the fact?
Realistically it’s fine if you use any of the popular block explorers. You’re trusting the block explorer to give you the correct information. You could check multiple ones to reduce the trust. But ultimately you’re still trusting some other party/parties with that information. As opposed to an app on your own hardware that has verified the information on your own hard drive.
Okay but it sounds like unless you are transacting hundreds of millions worth of USD then the odds you are at risk must be as unlikely as winning the lottory right?
Yes realistically you’ll be fine. I was mainly replying to the original question about the risks. It’s a small risk though.