# Run your own node

A rite of passage

# Run your own node

Plain and practical, for a first-timer.

A Bitcoin node keeps its own copy of the chain and checks every block against the rules, back to the first one in January 2009. When you run one, you stop asking anyone else which coins exist, who holds them, or which rules count. Your own computer answers.

## Why run one

- **Verify instead of trust.** Your node checks every signature, every coin and the 21 million limit for itself. No company can show your wallet a balance your node has not checked.

- **Privacy.** A wallet without a node asks a stranger's server about your addresses, and that server learns which coins belong together. A wallet pointed at your own node asks only you.

- **Your own rules.** Bitcoin's rules live in the software each node runs. A node you control enforces the rules you chose, and no one can change them on your behalf.

## What it takes

The Hashpoint runs one, named Hal. Here is what it took, measured on Hal itself:

| Software | Bitcoin Core 31.1, pruned, prune=10000 (keeps about 10 GB of recent blocks) |
| --- | --- |
| Hardware | a palm-sized mini PC: Intel N150 (four cores), 16 GB of memory, a 1 TB NVMe SSD |
| First sync | 26 hours 49 minutes, from first start to the chain tip |
| Disk, recent blocks | 10.6 GB |
| Disk, chainstate | 15.2 GB (the list of every unspent coin) |
| Disk, total | 25.8 GB |

Hal gave Bitcoin Core 3,800 MB of memory for its first sync and dropped back to the default once it caught up. A machine with a slower disk or less memory takes longer, often a few days. That wait happens once.

**Pruned mode is fine.** A pruned node still downloads and checks every block since 2009. It keeps only the recent ones on disk and deletes the rest after checking them, so it needs tens of gigabytes instead of hundreds. It verifies exactly as much as a full archive node does.

You need a computer that can stay on most of the day, a solid-state drive with about 30 GB free for a pruned node, and an internet connection without a tight data cap: the first sync downloads the whole chain, several hundred gigabytes, once.

## Three paths

1. **Bitcoin Core on a spare computer.** An old laptop or desktop with a solid-state drive does the job. This guide walks through this path below.

2. **A node in a box.** Products such as Start9 and Umbrel bundle the hardware or the software with a friendly dashboard. We name them as examples, not endorsements.

3. **A small dedicated machine.** A mini PC that does nothing else, like Hal. It runs quietly, uses little power and stays out of the way.

## Step by step: Bitcoin Core, pruned

1. **Download it from bitcoincore.org, and verify it before you install.** Get the installer for your system from [bitcoincore.org/en/download](https://bitcoincore.org/en/download/), plus the two files beside it, `SHA256SUMS` and `SHA256SUMS.asc`. Check that the installer matches its published fingerprint:

`sha256sum --ignore-missing --check SHA256SUMS`

Look for your file name followed by OK. Then check that Bitcoin Core's builders signed that list: import their keys (the download page links to them) and run

`gpg --verify SHA256SUMS.asc`

You want several "Good signature" lines from builders you recognize. On a Mac, `shasum -a 256` computes the fingerprint; on Windows, `certutil -hashfile` does. If anything fails to match, stop and download again.

2. **Set prune.** On first launch, Bitcoin Core asks where to keep its data and offers to limit block storage: tick the box and pick a size, 10 GB or more. Already running? Open Settings, then Options, and set "Prune block storage to". In a configuration file the same setting reads `prune=10000` (in megabytes; 550 is the smallest it accepts).

3. **Let it sync.** Leave the computer on and let the progress bar run to the present. Your node checks every block on the way. You can use the computer meanwhile; the first sync only asks for patience.

4. **Point your wallet at your own node.** Wallet software such as Sparrow can talk to Bitcoin Core directly. In Bitcoin Core, add `server=1` to the configuration file (Settings, Options, Open Configuration File) and restart it. In Sparrow, open Settings, choose Server, pick Bitcoin Core, enter `127.0.0.1` and port `8332`, keep the default authentication, and test the connection. A pruned node cannot rescan blocks it has already deleted, so connect a wallet with older history before you rely on it, and check Sparrow's guide if a scan comes up short.

## Keep it safe

- **Keep wallet keys off the node computer.** A hardware wallet signs; the node only checks. Sparrow can watch your addresses through the node without holding a key.

- **Your node never needs your recovery words.** No node, app or helper ever does. Anyone who asks for them wants your coins.

- **Update from bitcoincore.org only,** and verify each new release the same way.

- **Keep its control port private.** The settings above keep Bitcoin Core's control port on your own machine. Leave it that way.

## The Naming

The Naming. A node that has synced from the first block and checks every rule for itself is the rite that makes the rest real. When a new node reaches the tip for the first time, its keeper gives it a name and writes down its birth block. From that day on, no one has to take anyone's word about their money.

Bitcoin Core marks the moment in its log file, `debug.log`, with the line `Leaving InitialBlockDownload`. The block just before it is your node's birth block. Write it down with the date.

The Hashpoint's node is named Hal, after Hal Finney, who ran the first node besides Satoshi's. Hal was born at block 970,981 on Mon, Oct 12, 2026. On Running Bitcoin, January 10, the [Book of Days](https://bitcoinhashpoint.com/book-of-days/) asks every Bitcoiner to run a node or help a friend set one up.

## Sources

- [Bitcoin Core downloads and release verification](https://bitcoincore.org/en/download/), bitcoincore.org

- [Running a full node](https://bitcoincore.org/en/full-node/), bitcoincore.org

- [Bitcoin Core documentation](https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/tree/master/doc), including the configuration file and pruning options

- [Connecting Sparrow to a Bitcoin Core node](https://sparrowwallet.com/docs/connect-node.html), sparrowwallet.com

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Source: https://bitcoinhashpoint.com/run-a-node/