Running a node is just listening for other nodes to pass you data, checking that its valid, and passing it in further.

  So a peer will tell you “block 12345573 has parent x, is at height y, has transactions a,b,and c, its nonce is 73626 and its hash is a6h54fwj”. When you run a node, your job is to just check that those details are valid and that the hash lines up and to pass that data onto anyone else that might not know it yet.

Mining

  When you’re mining, you’re listening for new transactions, so some random peer will tell you “x wants to send y btc to z, here’s his signature “. And as a miner your job is to collect a few if these, add in the other data above (parent block), and randomly append millions of possible nonces until the resulting hash follows the rules of the bitcoin network. Once you have that hash, you transmit that block back to regular nodes to further distribute around the network.

The post Running a full node (BookKeeping) versus Mining appeared first on Anuj Varma, Hands-On Technology Architect, Clean Air Activist.