Introduction
Most people holding bitcoin aren't running full nodes, so they are trusting someone to provide the balance of their address and connecting to the network. Only running a full node allows trust less interaction with bitcoin, because you will not loose your privacy or get banned of the network.
Most bitcoin users are using wallets that are SPV wallets like TREZOR, electrum and etc... Trezor is completely trusted website. You CAN choose your own server, but its hard.
But TREZOR is still one of the best hardware wallets solutions available at the moment.
To full understand the bitcoin revolution, you need to run a full node.
I will provide some links explaining why this matters:
https://medium.com/@lopp/securing-your-financial-sovereignty-3af6fe834603
http://bitcoinist.com/6-reasons-run-bitcoin-full-node/
The most popular bitcoin client is the reference client or the satoshi client also called bitcoin core:
https://bitcoin.org/en/bitcoin-core/
Always check the integrity and authenticity of any software downloaded from the internet
Besides the reference client there is alternatives clients like knots, bitcoinj, bcoin, libbitcoin and others. All this clients came to consensus on the bitcoin network agreeing what are the rules of the network, or in other words this clients vote on the network on what is bitcoin. There is some scammers in the crypto space claiming that bitcoin core is the only client, and that's a lie. Always check everything before put your money in a project!!!
More about this:
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Consensus
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Prohibited_changes
Bitcoin is a voting system totally decentralized and it's first application was a financial system. But similar systems based on the same principles can be used for voting, taking decisions, government and so much more.
The bitcoin network is a P2P network, every peer of the network are equally privileged and equipotent participants without the need for central coordination by servers or stable hosts. Peers are both suppliers and consumers of resources of the network.
In the bitcoin network, every ten minutes a block is mined by miners, miners are also nodes or they couldn't participate on the bitcoin network. Then, the mining nodes broadcast that block to every node (peer) of the network.
Each node will check if that block is valid on rules of that node. This rules are enforced by the software running on that node.
If it's valid the node broadcast that block to the rest of the network.
If it's not valid the node will not broadcast that block on the network. And also will stop talking with the node which broadcasted the block in the first place. This cut of communication can be temporary or permanent.
In this way nodes that broadcast blocks with different rules are quickly isolated from the network. When the banned nodes are more than one and they broadcast blocks with the same rules, this nodes create their own network, sharing their own resources and enforcing their own rules and creating a new coin.
The bitcoin network have rules but don't have rulers. The rules are enforced by software running on nodes and this nodes are controlled by anyone that are willing to do it. They just need to download the software, check their integrity and authenticity.
And because the hardware required doesn't need to be powerful, anyone can run their own node. A cheap old computer can do it, like a dual core with 4GB of ram on even a small RPi3 can run a full node.
To change the rules everyone controlling the nodes need to change the software running on it.
And if anyone can run a full node, the bitcoin network is decentralized and anyone can participate on it.
This is the revolution of bitcoin as decentralized and incorruptible voting system of equal participants.
And we are still grasping it's potential.
Bitcoin is a young technology and it's needs to grow, scale and embrace every challenge on it's path.
In our days we ear everyone talking about bitcoin and the blockchain revolution.
Governments and banks say that the true revolution is the blockchain. In other words their blockchain and a voting system centralized here only a few can say what is valid or not.
And if you believe them, you will not understand what is the bitcoin revolution. And why it matters and why is so powerful and beautiful.
Bitcoin is probably the biggest revolution you will watch in your lifetime.
https://www.publish0x.com/?a=4QbYNj9dzq
