What is a node

After Ethereum transitioned to the Proof-of-Stake, the consensus mechanism was changed. Previously, miners played the leading role, ensuring transactions and supporting the network. Now everything is in the hands of validators who hold the nodes. Let’s find out what a node is.

A node is any computer that is connected to the blockchain. In a decentralized network, nodes exchange messages using P2P protocols. Messages contain information about transactions and blocks. A node, depending on its type, stores only part or all of the blockchain data.

There are two types of nodes: full and light.

Full nodes store all blockchain data, starting with the genesis block.

Light nodes do not store all blockchain data, but only the block headers to authenticate the transactions they contain.

There are also specific archive nodes that store an archive of the historical conditions of the blockchain. Using an archive node, you can find out information on any block in the network at any time. Unlike archive nodes, full nodes do not record historical states.

Running a node can earn rewards as their owners share the profits from generating and validating blocks. Usually, the profitability of a node is inversely proportional to how many native coins a user has. There are also minimum requirements ​​in order to start earning income from a node and be a validator. For example, to run a node on the Ethereum network, you need to stake 32ETH.

Let us know about your experience with the nodes? Any success here?