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Bitcoin Nodes Exit China After Regulations for ‘Healthy Development’
Esther Kim | Feb 04, 2019 | 08:00
New data shows that December and January saw the biggest changes in Bitcoin nodes in China and France, as the former introduced madatory registration with the government.
China Decreases Node Share
Statistics from Bitcoin network monitoring resource Earn.com uploaded to social media February 2 confirm the past two months saw Chinese node numbers change by around 75.
As Bitcoinist reported, lawmakers quietly introduced legislation in early January which made it de facto illegal to run a domestic Bitcoin node.
The rules target an “entity or node that provides the blockchain information service to the public and the organization or organization that provides technical support for the blockchain information service.”
The knock-on effect means China leads the list of countries with nodes tracked by Earn.com, followed by France, Cyprus and a curious pocket of west Africa.
See how the number of #bitcoin full nodes changed within two months. We have over 10'000 full nodes and hopefully increasing thanks to #LightningNetwork, @CasaHODL and @pierre_rochard node launcher.
Data from @port8333 pic.twitter.com/7ftxTUG4zR
— xenonsky (@mapsforbtc) February 2, 2019
The data does not give specific numbers for node changes, instead offering ranges.
Lightning Network Keeps Growing
Worldwide, the the country with the largest number of reachable nodes is the US with 24 percent of the total. Second, third and fourth place all go to Europe, corresponding to Germany, France and the Netherlands respectively.
China now accounts for 4.02 percent of the total Bitcoin network node count, Earn.com confirms – a decrease of just under 1 percent over January.
In November last year, the Bitcoin network’s public node count passed 10,000, amid a conscious effort to make running a full node easier for the average consumer.
At the same time, the expansion of the Lightning Network is boosting its own node numbers. According to 1ML.com, Lightning nodes have increased almost 15 percent over the past 30 days to 5888 at press time.
Other metrics are promising, with the network’s total capacity reaching 635 BTC just a week after passing the 600 BTC milestone for the first time.
What do you think about the Bitcoin network node count distribution? Let us know in the comments below!
Images courtesy of Shutterstock
