Don’t just use the network, be the network.
A node is a piece of software that is connected to the blockchain. By running your own node, you have direct access to the evolving state of the network, without having to rely on third parties. This increases privacy and security, reduces reliance on external servers, and helps balance load distribution. By running a node, you also directly contribute to the security and decentralization of the whole network.
Everyone! Anyone can run a node, on everyday hardware. You don’t even need to stake any FLOW. Run a node and contribute to the security and decentralization of the network.
For most use-cases, the Observer node is the easiest, most versatile node type to deploy. It provides a locally accessible, continuously updated and verified copy of the block data and does not require any staking. It can be easily run on any consumer-grade hardware with sufficient disk space.
Expand Info +Scalability is the make-or-break moment for the blockchain industry as a whole — only if networks can scale to millions by default, will millions come. The vast majority of projects rely on two approaches: sharding (Layer 1) and rollups (Layer 2). These techniques might tackle the immediate technical needs, but they introduce greater risks, minimize the benefits of decentralization and add complexity for developers and end-users in the long term.
Flow’s approach is different: rather than each node having to do all the work, Flow’s nodes are specialized along the transaction pipeline. Collection nodes batch the work, consensus nodes secure the work, execution nodes do the work, verification nodes check the work. Access nodes are the interface through which builders can access the network.
By introducing this paradigm of pipelining, Flow’s solution is more scalable, more decentralized and more secure than existing scaling solutions, without increasing complexity for developers or needing to rely on off-chain workarounds.
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If you are interested in running a staked Flow node, you have several options depending on the Node type. Each staked node type requires a minimum stake.
You don’t need to run a node to stake your FLOW. Any account in the network may also participate in staking by delegating their tokens to a node operator. Every node operator in the network is eligible to receive delegations, there is no opting out.
