(
CoinDesk) It’s well known that
bitcoin is designed as a decentralized
peer-to-peer (P2P) network. However, what’s often lost in translation is
the sheer amount of machinery that is needed to maintain this global
infrastructure.
For example, in order to validate and relay
transactions, bitcoin requires more than a network of miners processing
transactions, it must broadcast messages across a network using ‘nodes’.
This is the first step in the transaction process that results in a
block confirmation.
To function to its full potential, the bitcoin
network must not only provide an avenue for transactions, but also
remain secure. By using a number of randomly selected nodes, the network
can reduce the problem of
double spending – when a user attempts to spend the same digital token twice.
However,
bitcoin doesn’t just need nodes, it requires lots of fully functioning
nodes – nodes that have the bitcoin core client on a machine instance
with the complete block chain. The more nodes there are, the more secure
the network is.
The problem is, the number of nodes on the network is dropping, and core developers believe it may continue to do so.
Waning support
Looking
at a 60-day chart of bitcoin nodes shows that the number has gone down
significantly. It went from 10,000 reachable nodes in early March to
below 8,000 at the beginning of May.
What’s
interesting is that during a recent 24-hour period, the number of
reachable nodes went down from 8,200 to 7,600 and back to 8,200 again.
This suggests that a portion of users running nodes are turning off
their machines at night, meaning that this contingent of nodes are being
run on desktops or laptops.
Another issue is the geographic distribution of the nodes. The majority of reachable nodes are located in North America.
In Africa, where bitcoin could perhaps help people lacking
access to financial resources more than anywhere else, there is a regional paucity of reachable nodes.
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A map based on Bitnodes data. Source: Coinviz |
Lack of incentive
Unlike bitcoin mining, where participants
are rewarded for confirming transactions,
running a bitcoin node does not provide any incentive. The only benefit
for someone to run a node is to help protect the network, and based on
the Bitnodes data, the number of people interested in supporting the
network with a full node is waning.
There could be a number of reasons for that.
For one thing, running a full node utilizes the resources of a machine for basically no monetary return. Plus, the collapse of
Mt. Gox has likely left many people with less desire to support the digital currency.
Centralization of mining
In
terms of supporting the bitcoin network, it used to be a lot easier for
the average user to participate. However, the advent of massive ASIC
data centres has weakened the consensual nature of mining, and by
extension providing nodes, for many people.
Ross McKelvie, lead engineer at bitcoin incubator Boost VC, believes that it will be larger operators with data centres like
KnCMiner that will have to pick up the slack in the number of bitcoin nodes, reasoning:
“As
bitcoin grows, so does the network and the computing power behind the
scenes required to run it. The majority of bitcoiners won’t be able to
support their own nodes and will be taken over by companies like KnC.”
KnCMiner is just an example of
economics and logistics in the mining industry
pushing bitcoin towards a more centralized future. McKelvie also
believes that major technology companies that take interest in bitcoin
will have to put their computing resources behind the digital currency:
“I
wouldn’t be surprised if we see large tech companies like Google and
Amazon throwing resources at bitcoin as they adopt the currency.”
Feedback from nodes
As part of the bitcoin core developer team,
Mike Hearn
sees the issue of nodes dropping from 10,000 down to under 7,000 as a
significant problem. To Hearn, the core of the issue is disinterest in
both expending computing resources and electricity toward something that
may have diminishing value.
On the bitcoin
developer mailing list,
Hearn has proposed added functionality that would allow communications
between nodes and the developers to better understand why so many are
dropping out.
Hearn also wants to exclude consumer wallets installed on laptops and desktops from the network as well.
This
is because their number will continue to decline no matter what – and
they appear to only be working when users are awake during the day.
One of the reasons why lots of nodes are important is redundancy, according to Hearn:
“It
makes [the bitcoin network] ‘seem’ bigger, more robust and more
decentralised, because there are more people uniting to run it. So
there’s a psychological benefit.”
Moving forward
Bitcoin core developer
Jeff Garzik
believes that community attention to the lack of nodes supporting the
network is what the industry needs in order to boost numbers:
“I agree we need more full nodes. I’ve long been a proponent of such calls for more nodes.”
However,
such calls for voluntary support might not be enough motivation for
people to do so, though, so, one logical idea that has been floated is
to give nodes some sort of incentive.
However, that’s probably not
feasible right now: over the past six months, miners have been
averaging a daily reward of 15.98 BTC per day, according to
Blockchain.
Recent
bitcoin prices would peg that value at around $7,040 per day for the
entire network – and the growth in transaction fees has been incredibly
flat over the past six months. As a result, miners would likely be
reluctant to concede any revenue to bitcoin nodes, which don’t require
pricey ASIC hardware to run.
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Transaction fees on the network for past six months. Source: Blockchain |
Members
of the bitcoin community seem to be losing interest in hosting full
nodes. And it’s something to pay attention to, because over time it
might mean that the major companies in the industry may have to pick up
the slack.
If larger players are taking up the role of supporting
the network as full nodes, though, it continues to lessen the amount of
decentralization the network has at an infrastructure level.
This
is all down to circumstances surrounding bitcoin sentiment – the rise of
ASICs, the selloffs in China and complete collapse of Mt. Gox – plus
little in the way of incentives for someone to run a node.
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