It's time to stop saying that running a Bitcoin node is "basically free".
There are non-negligible costs to running full nodes, which are essential for true solo mining/block building and self custod...
The cost-to-incentive ratio is what matters here. As Bitcoin appreciates, running a node becomes economically rational even at higher hardware costs for those with significant holdings. The concern is users with small stacks -- priced into custodial trust before their stake is large enough to justify verification costs.
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