Motivation
Why would you operate your own node?
- Running your own Bitcoin payserver and integrate it with your webshop
- Running your own Lightning node and become part of the LN
- Direct access to your own trusted bitcoin blockchain for on chain analysis
Hardware
You can build your own BTC node from the essential parts below. This will give you a silent, passively cooled device. I have mine running now for 4 months without any downtime (as of Oct. 10 2021).
| Part | Amazon Link | Price |
| Raspberry Pi 4B, 8GB | https://amzn.to/3nX314D | €129 |
| 32GB micro SD card | https://amzn.to/3dzvOFJ | €9 |
| Samsung SSD 1TB | https://amzn.to/339RS7D | €130 |
| Raspberry Pi Power Supply | https://amzn.to/2VkWzrc | €14 |
| Geekworm Heatsink | https://amzn.to/3oxNV88 | €13 |
Housing
I am 3D printing housings for the BTC node validator. Contact me for the print files or for an actual print.
Software
The Raspberry is configured to run the node management software by @Getumbrel. It comes as a ready to go Image and is absolutely easy to setup. Awesome work, guys!
Integration
The BTC node is only visible from the outside through the Tor network or directly on your local private network.
Where this gives you maximum privacy the downside is that you have issues when trying to integrate it with WordPress / Woocommerce. In particular the link between Woocommerce and you BTC server is not possible straight out of the box.
The solution here is to us to run a reverse proxy which will accept connections from the outside and route it to your BTC node. For privacy reasons I will not give detailed instructions here, there is abundant information on the web on how to do this.
Care about connecting to my lightning node?
Please open a channel, I will connect back!
0375df6a5a4bbcdf17abdbc58d732727fa613abf49797b3f54446f571cc21f8b76@zeubpp7h2s433o7e4hieqga75n3xfgtd6eg3rnopkcrmtwy3ztmbnhad.onion:9735
