Key points
- Bad nodes hinder dApp interactions and cryptocurrency adoption.
- High-quality nodes require uptime, availability, latency, and other crucial parameters.
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A current problem with blockchain networks is the existence of faulty nodes, which affects the way end users interact with decentralized applications (dApps) and represents a barrier to cryptocurrency adoption. Yair Cleper, CEO of infrastructure provider Lava Network, shared with Crypto Briefing the importance of nodes for the Web3 ecosystem.
“When you think about nodes, you think about the basic operation of every transaction, every piece of data written to the blockchains, and it all depends on your requirements. Someone needs to query the blockchain from time to time just to see what the account balance is, but some are more intensive users and need 1,000 requests per second,” Cleper explained.
By default, blockchains offer a public RPC node, which allows users to communicate with the blockchain. However, no one has the time to properly support those RPC nodes, the Lava CEO added, which impacts performance.
“This usually creates the problem that when there is increased usage, even initial usage, and when the testnet moves to mainnet, when there are airdrops, when there is more activity in a special region, this piece of infrastructure starts to break down.”
Therefore, blockchains need high-quality nodes, which are mainly defined by uptime, availability, and latency. However, there are many other parameters that define a good node, such as disaster recovery, backup, and load balancer.
However, there are four main guarantees that every node runner must provide. The first is the aforementioned uptime, as the node must be up for as long as possible to keep decentralized applications running. The second is censorship resistance, which allows users to communicate with the blockchain regardless of the location they are in.
“The third thing is whether the blockchain data you’re receiving is actually coming from the blockchain itself or not from a DNS hijacking case. A year and a half ago, Ankr’s gateway to Polygon was hacked due to DNS hijacking. And they tried to phish and all sorts of things.”
The final guarantee, according to Cleper, is privacy. The way projects like Lava Network figured out how to maintain high-quality nodes and trustworthy node operators is by incentivizing their operations. That way, they can use those operators to maintain the integrity of different blockchains, keeping the user experience smooth.
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