There’s a new open source, non-profit project that aims to keep the Bitcoin network running smoothly and secured. To do so, it wants people to help by sponsoring nodes to accomodate the growing number of Bitcoin users in the world.

Dubbed Fullnode, the project aims to get as many full nodes running as it possibly can. It’s hoping to get volunteers to adopt a Bitcoin node for $10 a month, and further entices adopters by allowing them to name their own node. Interested parties will pay using Bitcoin which is processed by Coinbase. Once the process is complete, a full node will be provisioned either on Linode or DigitalOcean. The node will be online for a month and Fullnode will add the ability to re-fund the node in the future as well as add more full node providers.

“I thought it would be cool if people who wanted to help the bitcoin network, but didn’t know how, could simply send some BTC to an address and have a full node deployed for them,” Fullnode’s Or Weinberger told CoinDesk.

What’s in a node?

If you’re keen on Bitcoin but don’t have a clue what ‘nodes’ do, keep reading:

Most Bitcoin users know that every transaction is recorded in the blockchain. Well, for things to get recorded in the blockchain in the first place, the transactions must be validated by both the miners processing the transaction, and then broadcast across the network via nodes. This helps to prevent so-called double-spending and keep Bitcoin viable.

The node itself is a “full client” or a client running the complete blockchain and making the blocks available for sharing. For a full node to be effective, it needs to be able to accept incoming connections, have a high-speed Internet connection, and must be constantly running so it’s always available. If clients running full nodes do not meet these requirements, they’re essentially harming the network instead of helping it. For the Bitcoin network to run effectively and securely, it needs more nodes.

Think of the whole process as something similar to how Bittorrent operates. If you’ve ever used it, you’ll know that if to download a file fast, you need to look for the one that has lots of seeders. The more seeders a file has, the faster the download is.

Will ‘adopt a node’ be effective?

More nodes in a network will mean more redundancy, which means there will be more checking the validity of each transaction, reducing the risk of double spending Bitcoins. If there are less nodes online, this means the risk of double spending increases, therefore hampering the nature of Bitcoin.

Gavin Andresen, Chief Scientist at Bitcoin Foundation, warns that ordinary people should not be running a full node if they don’t meet the criteria, as they would become more of a problem than a solution. That’s why Fullnode is trying to address as the person paying $10 will essentially be renting a server for a full month to run the node. The person doesn’t run the node by themselves, which means the nodes adopted are always online, thus always available.

One of the major concerns over Fullnode is how people can make certain that the money they contributed will actually be used for nodes and not mine Bitcoins.  In Fullnode’s FAQs page, it states that once the fee has been paid, the adopter will be able to see the details of their node or nodes in the server list.

So will Fullnode be beneficial for Bitcoin? It should be, especially now that Bitcoin transactions are increasing. Will it be successful? Maybe, but that depends on whether or not the Bitcoin community accepts this new open-source project, and if they trust them enough with their $10.

photo credit: btckeychain via photopin cc