First things first, and I should hope that this goes without saying in 2018, but you really can’t have too many trusted, reliable, high-uptimei nodes on any peer-to-peer network, and Bitcoin is no exception. It’s sorta why “decentralise” was a meme back in 2013 before “blockchain” took over the lamestream news in 2015.
Anyways, that’s why I’m announcing Constantine II IIIii today, to be found at 158.69.54.79 54.39.156.171.iii The newest infrastructure node on the Bitcoin network – here to serve.
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- If you’re employing dedicated servers from ISPs, as I am, it’s not even enough that your service provider keeps the lights on, the A/C running, and all the cords plugged in. Running Bitcoin nodes still takes a serious amount of babysitting because even the almighty TRB software is a ball of wet hair that dies for no reason, requiring semi-regular restarts and fairly absurd levels of vigilance. Running more than two nodes is quite the responsibility. Running five or even ten requires discipline and organisation, to say nothing of the financial commitment. ↩
Constantine II’s predecessor, Constantine I, is still to be found at 37.59.43.190, but with the blockchain growing at upwards of 1*6*24*365 = 52.56 GB per year, he only has about 9 months to live before his 250 GB SSDs are obsoleted (optimistically 12-15 months with these baby blocks).UPDATE 05/11/18 : RIP Constantine I. Shadchan II is filling the void and can be found at 188.165.209.181. In loosely related lulz, the full Ethereum blockchain is something like 1.5 TB now.UPDATE 06/30/20 : RIP Constantine II. Say hello to Constantine III at 54.39.156.171. In less serious news, the full Ethereum blockchain is >4.5 TB per Etherscan.io. LMAO. UPDATE 23/07/20 : RIP Shadchan II. Shadchan III is now online, as you’ll note in the right sidebar.When I was a tyke, the blockchain was only 20 GB and you could run a node on a MacBook… Time rests for no man, nor machine, but Good God was that five years well spent.
All of which brings us neatly to Ethereum and this little doozy of an inconvenient truth, brought to us by Dan The Man :
Although the percentage and Mb changes are somewhat arbitrarily based on when Dan turned on the metre, the controlled and predictable growth of the Bitcoin blockchain is even still starkly contrasted against the explosive and frequently manic growth of the Ethereum blockchain. In the 9.5 years that Bitcoin has been fucking shit up, its blockchain hasn’t even crested 200 GB in total size compared to the 675 GB accumulated by the metastatic Ethereum in just 2.5 years.
As we can see, while Bitcoin will outgrow 250 GB SSDs that retail for $120 by the end of 2018, Ethereum is about to outgrow 1 TB SSDs that retail for $369 by Thanksgiving 2018 before maxing out 2 TB SSDs that retail for $770 by summer solstice 2019 and then 4 TB SSDs that retail for $1`700 by mid-2022 if the rate of growth doesn’t increase further still. Do you know how few users can afford that kind of investment ? Do you understand the compromises inherent in “sharting” that are being proposed to deal with it ? You should recognise the parallels between Vitalik’s latest hail mary and the failed MaidSafe enterprise, at the very least. Because maybe broken ideas will work for us! We’re special!!1
But hey, no one said mass adoption would be easy, or lead to anything other than the exact same centralised fiat bullshit world that supposedly keeps you safe and warm at night, where all of your financial transactions are mediated and monitored through “regulated” and “chartered” middle-men using a currency WITH NO FUCKING CAP!!!11! It’s what Anthony di Iorio and his little puppet have always wanted – to rent you out to the highest bidder like the slave you are (archived). Pretty gross eh ? ↩
- As you’ll surely have noticed from the listing on the right sidebar, my other other infrastructure node,
Shadchan, can still be found at 199.204.187.186, but it too is doomed to be replaced within the year.UPDATE 30/05/18 : RIP Old Boy. We’ll see if Pizarro is looking solid enough to host Shadchan II by then. Given the little exit scam that ZXPlay / ZXHost just pulled on me, I’m eager to try more trustworthy solutions. UPDATE 30/06/20 : Oh well, Pizarro bit the dust, along with the entirety of #trilema/#bitcoin-assets. Shit happens. Also, Constantine II ran out of room on his trusty 480 GB SSD so he’s been replaced by Constantine III at 54.39.156.171. This new pup should last until 2040 at least, barring another service provider implosion.UPDATE 23/07/20 : Shadchan III is now online at 54.38.94.63! ↩