A Bitcoin network consists of equal BTC nodes. When a user runs a Bitcoin client on a computer or mobile device, such as a wallet file, its device in the network becomes a light Bitcoin node. Transactions are passed between light Bitcoin nodes until they reach the full Bitcoin node. Therefore, light Bitcoin nodes are also called relay Bitcoin nodes. Full Bitcoin nodes also relay transactions further down the network, and if the transaction meets all the necessary requirements, include it in the blockchain.

How Full Bitcoin nodes work

Anyone can run full Bitcoin nodes. To do this you just need to download and install the software from the official Bitcoin website. The system of Bitcoin nodes along with miners becomes an additional factor in the stability of the network. Rewards for owners of BTC nodes are not provided. Nevertheless, there are about 10,000 BTC nodes, and their number is growing every year. Moreover, counting the total number of BTC nodes does not include BTC dedicated nodes. Because working in Bitcoin mainnet involves the risk of losing money, developers run their applications in Bitcoin testnet first. All calls and procedures in Bitcoin testnet are similar, but the coins do not have any value.

BTC dedicated nodes: benefits

n many cases, developers cannot do without BTC dedicated nodes. Running their own BTC node, they set their own rules. They can set up blockchain nodes API, program trading bot and set rules for dApps implementation. BTC private nodes are not connected to the general Bitcoin network and therefore have no obligations to the network. BTC dedicated nodes technology has numerous advantages. Developers can use JSON-RPC calls, REST, and WebSockets APIs. These are extremely important features for building web3 infrastructure based on BTC nodes.

BTC dedicated nodes technology has prospects related to the development of the Lighting network. This network is a second-tier solution that also relies on a system of nodes. More and more dedicated BTC nodes support Lighting technology. Thus, dedicated BTC nodes become the basis for building a node infrastructure that provides fast and cheap payments.

If you already know how to connect to a Bitcoin blockchain node, it is not enough to connect to a Bitcoin public node in the Lighting network. A Lightning node is the gateway server into the Lightning Network. Anyone can run a node and earn some satoshis by routing payments. As Bitcoin mainnet grows in popularity and loads of profits from owning a Bitcoin shared node will grow. More and more people will be interested in getting a reliable and fast connection to a Bitcoin node.

Source: https://getblock.io/dedicated-nodes/btc/