Think Bitcoin is inevitable? Think again. Complacency is the enemy of Bitcoin.

The link I have shared as part of this post really made me stop and think today. It's an estimate of listening and non-listening bitcoin node.

If you consider yourself a Bitcoiner, this should worry you. What you see is a slow decay of a statistic that should be growing year on year. Especially now, when people are moving to self custody, as the shitcoins die, and when people are seeing the true value of Bitcoin as a tool of freedom.

The misconception about running a node is that you are supporting the network. But it's not really about that. Running a node is YOU exerting control. It's YOU saying "these are my rules, THIS is what I want Bitcoin to be". And if many users engage this selfish act, Bitcoin becomes stronger! That's the magic right there.

Look at the blocksize wars, at the big blocker corporate interests signalling for segwit2x, look at the RBF nonsense as people who don't understand the risks and function of Bitcoin try to dictate how the network should work. Node runners are the main line of defense against these actors. YOU can be there in the phalanx, in fact you SHOULD be there, with a spear in hand ready to strike at that which you must fight. A shield locked with those you would share concensus with.

If you do not run a Bitcoin node you are allowing the essence of bitcoin to rot through inaction. For your sake, for the sake of your bitcoin and, critically, for the sake of Bitcoin's soul. Run a node.

You don't need a raspberry pi, you don't need an old computer, you don't need to run Linux or make a sever or any of that shit. What you need is to download bitcoin core from bitcoincore.org for your OS, verify it, and install it. Congratulations. You now operate a node. If you can't spare the disk space?Prune it. Can't dedicate the bandwidth? Don't propagate blocks. Don't want people to know you use bitcoin? Enable tor. The possible configurations are huge and there are tools to help you configure it as well. Wallets like sparrow will easily connect to your node too, so you can effortlessly have privacy in your transactions too.

Aren't sure what you are doing? Don't worry, ask for help here, go to the daily thread, go to the /r/bitcoin discord. Ask. Ask. Ask. People will help you. And then, one day, pay it forward. I have included some helpful links to get you going. But if you are new to this whole thing and have questions then please ask away.

Why you should run a node.

How to run a node

How to run a pruned node if you cant spare disk space.

Remember, there may come another blocksize war, it may happen sooner than you think. Be prepared to make yourself self-sovereign or face the consequences of inaction. To quote Sartre "We're 'thrown' into existence, become aware of ourselves, and have to make choices. Even deciding not to choose is a choice."