Bitcoin (BTC) is the first decentralized peer to peer network that originated in 2009, a year after the financial crisis in 2008. Earlier you could read in the Bitcoin news that the Bitcoin network celebrated its fourteenth birthday on January 3. January 3, 2009 was the day the network was operational for the first time, as that day was the first block of the Bitcoin blockchain called ‘Genesis block’ was mined.
The Bitcoin network consists of thousands nodes and these ensure the decentralized character of the entire network.
What is a Bitcoin node?
Basically, a Bitcoin node is a computer that runs the software of Bitcoin. Anyone can run this software and become part of the network. This software is connected to other computers with the same software and together they form the entire network. A node is also called ‘node’ in Dutch.
The moment a Bitcoin miner adds a new block to the blockchain, the rest of the network validates that block. It is important to mention that it is not the miners who control the transactions.
More than 43,000 Bitcoin nodes worldwide
In total, the network has 43,706 public nodes spread over a total of 134 different countries. The United States is home to a whopping 9,999 nodes (30.53%) and Germany ranks second with 4,529 nodes (13.83%), according to data from Bitnodes.
Interestingly enough, our little country comes in fourth place in terms of number of nodes. Our lance has 1,488 nodes, which equals 4.54% of the total.
When different cities are compared with each other, Frankfurt comes out on top with a total of 652 (1.99%) nodes. The American city of Ashburn takes second place with 517 nodes (1.58%). However, for 5865 nodes (17.91%) it is not possible to assign a specific location, as those people deliberately conceal their location.
Incidentally, Amsterdam is sixth in the list of cities with the most Bitcoin nodes. Our capital has a total of 365 nodes, which is equivalent to 1.11% of the total number.