Thinking about Running a Bitcoin Node

I've come across a lot of info on Bitcoin nodes and I'm seriously considering running one, but the whole downloading almost 500 GB of the Blockchain is crazy with my current internet speed. I get that nodes are just regular computers that help the Bitcoin network and that there are around 75,000 active nodes right now, both listening and non-listening. But it makes me wonder, what would really happen to Bitcoin if all 75,000 of those node operators decided to turn them off? I know it sounds a bit far-fetched, but hey, anything is possible, right? I mean, they’re all run by people.

From what I know, it is impossible for the whole node to shut down at the same time, it is only if the world is being destroyed that we can see that happening. If all the 75k nodes shut down, it means that bitcoin network is be stuck and bitcoin will go to zero in value. It is the same as destroying bitcoin from existence.

This can be said to be impossible to be frank because if there are no node operators then there will be no Bitcoin network don't forget miners are Full noders also. Bitcoin network is currently in a phase were many we find all means to protect it mainly since it's a source of living for many weather as a miner, dev, Investor and others which not just about being a source of living

All transactions remain paused until the Nodes comes online again? So how does it affect the price?

Except you want to run a full node then downloading the whole Block shouldn't be your problem. You can run a pruned nodes to reduce the total storage which the block will occupy in your disk space, The current Blockchain size is around 651.13 GB [1] so it's even above your 500 GB space. Additionally, It's practically impossible to see all bitcoin nodes shut down. For something if this nature to occur then all network or internet has to be down generally before we can experience all nodes down which in an obvious sense isn't possible for now at least. Basically what we are talking about is around 75,000 active nodes running, so if your node is down someone else node is still running that's how it works. [1] https://learnmeabitcoin.com/technical/networking/node/#disk-space

Few days ago, the same question was asked here: What happens when mining and nodes stop working. Read what some people posted on the thread.

Bitcoin is freedom, we run the network as a community. If every node shuts down it will be because the community has decided to shut the network down, if not you can create your own node, I can as well and we build the network back up. As long as there are bitcoiners, there will be bitcoin. With a pruned node you will still need to sync your wallet with the blockchain requiring you to download every block to date, then prune the data. The problem here is internet speed and not space.

If all nodes shuts down then everything about bitcoin also goes down. Because miners are also node runners and if all miners stop working then nobody will mine bitcoin, nodes also verify transactions which makes them much significant to the network. So it’s Fair to say bitcoin that without node runners bitcoin won’t exist. Running a prune node is just practically saving some blocks only, nothing changes with full node. You will still need to download every block which is the total storage and that’s what OP was all about. Also even if you need to import an address practically a old one you will need to download all blockchain again

Firstly op let me start by saying that the likelihood of that happening is near zero. Because technically if every single node should stop working then the bitcoin network would not be regarded as a network. To start with nodes are just computers that share and store data on the Blockchain. Nodes work together forming the Bitcoin network, Infact  the idea that all these nodes have a series of protocol that they all follow makes it impossible for errors like fake Bitcoins to be generated on the network. Also let's not forget that miners infact run nodes because without them having connection to other nodes and the block chain in general they won't be able to add coins to the network by hashing and also confirm transactions by Linking and verifying the origin and POW of the coins being sent.

You have to keep in mind that in a decentralized and global network if you can't do something then there are still a lot of others that can. For example if you have a problem downloading the whole blockchain because of your internet speed, there are 75k others who don't have that problem and have done it already. It's the same with other aspects of Bitcoin like mining. You are not willing to make the investment into mining equipment to mine bitcoin but there are lots of others who are. That's the beauty of being decentralized. And to keep it that way, we have to ensure the characteristics of the network remain a certain way to keep it possible for enough individuals to continue doing what they were doing (running nodes, mining bitcoin, etc.). For example if the block size were to increase to 1 GB, it would immediately centralize Bitcoin to a handful of nodes run by malicious companies. So in reality if we look back at history, we have seen rises and falls in the number of full nodes but it's a trend and won't happen altogether. You can see the chart showing such changes here: https://luke.dashjr.org/programs/bitcoin/files/charts/historical.html

There are Bitcoin full nodes and pruned nodes. What you are talking about is Bitcoin full node that will download and store the whole blockchain data on your computer. Fortunately, there are Bitcoin pruned nodes which can be customized personally with any storage size you want depends on your available free data space on your computer disk. Pros and Cons of Bitcoin Node types (Full node and Prune node) Node types and roles https://learnmeabitcoin.com/technical/networking/node/ If you are curious, check the live map for Bitcoin nodes. https://bitnodes.io/ Bitcoin has a decentralized network from geolocation decentralization of miners and nodes. It's nearly impossible that all miners and all node operators will shut down their operations.