Frequently Asked Questions

A node does not earn MLRT, but it makes the network stronger. By validating every block yourself you stop trusting third parties, you help relay valid data to other peers, and you make the chain harder to censor or attack. More independent nodes means a more decentralised, resilient network. Many people run a node on a machine that is on anyway, as a quiet contribution to the project they mine or hold.

No. The Malairte node software has no built-in wallet. It does not hold private keys, it does not sign transactions, and it does not custody any MLRT. A node downloads the blockchain, verifies every rule for itself, and relays valid blocks and transactions to other nodes. Key management and signing are handled by separate software entirely. This separation is deliberate and useful: because the node holds no funds, you can run it on a cheap always-on machine without it becoming a target. Running a node means you are providing verification and relay to the network, not custody.

A miner produces new blocks by doing proof-of-work with a CPU or GPU and competes for the block reward. A node validates and relays whatever miners produce: it checks every block against the consensus rules and rejects anything invalid. The two jobs are distinct. A node does no mining and earns no coins; it secures the network by enforcing the rules. Many miners run a node so they have a trusted local view of the chain, but you can run a node without ever mining a single hash. Miners propose blocks, nodes decide which ones count.

A full node stores the entire blockchain, so disk is the resource you plan around first. The chain grows over time, so the right approach is to provision generous headroom above the current size rather than the bare minimum, so you are not migrating storage within months. A solid-state drive is strongly preferred over a spinning hard disk because the initial sync touches the disk constantly and an SSD makes that far faster. Keep an eye on free space as the chain grows, and upgrade storage before the drive fills, since a full disk stops the node cold.

The initial sync downloads and re-verifies the entire chain history, so it is the slowest part of setup and can range from a few hours to a couple of days. The two biggest factors are your disk and your internet speed. An SSD dramatically shortens the sync compared to a spinning hard disk, since validation is disk-bound. Track progress by comparing your node block height against the current tip shown on a public explorer. Leave the node running uninterrupted; restarting repeatedly only loses in-progress work. The sync is a one-time cost, after which the node simply keeps pace with new blocks.

No, port forwarding is optional. A node that only makes outbound connections is still fully validating and perfectly useful to you. Forwarding the node port lets your node also accept inbound connections, which helps the wider network because new nodes can connect to you while they bootstrap. If you want to be reachable from outside, reserve a fixed local IP for the node machine and forward its listening port at the router, then allow it in any local firewall. If you skip this, your node still works fine; it just will not host new arrivals.

Peer count is the most useful diagnostic for a node. Zero peers usually means a connectivity or discovery problem: confirm the machine itself can reach the internet, and check that a restrictive firewall is not blocking the outbound connections a node needs. A few peers but no sync progress points elsewhere, such as a full disk or a wrong system clock. After a fresh start it is normal to begin with no peers and watch the count climb over a minute or two as discovery snowballs. If it stays at zero, work through connectivity, firewall, and outbound access in that order.

Yes, and it is a popular choice. A node is modest in its needs once synced: validation is light, memory use is low, and the CPU only works hard during the initial sync. A small single-board computer or a low-power mini PC handles a node comfortably and sips only a few watts, which matters because the node runs every hour of every day. The main requirement is a solid-state drive with generous free space, since disk is the real constraint. Pair that with a normal internet connection and you have an always-on node you can tuck away and forget.

Nothing dramatic. The Malairte network has no central server and no single point of failure. The blockchain lives across every node simultaneously, so any one node can drop offline and the network does not notice. When your node comes back online, it simply catches up by downloading the blocks it missed, resuming from the last block it verified. That said, an always-on node helps the network more than one that comes and goes, because it is reliably available to serve peers. There is no penalty for going offline, but consistent uptime is the more valuable contribution.

Every honest node runs the same consensus rules and checks each block for itself, so they all reach the same verdict on what is valid. When two miners find a block at nearly the same time, nodes resolve the tie by following the chain with the most accumulated proof-of-work; as soon as one branch gets the next block, every node switches to it and abandons the other. Because all nodes apply identical logic to identical data, agreement falls out naturally without any vote or central coordinator. This is also why a fresh block is not final until a few more blocks build on top of it.

Yes, you should apply node software updates in good time, especially releases that touch consensus rules, because running an outdated version risks falling out of step with the rest of the network. You do not need to chase every minor release the day it lands, but you should not let your node drift far behind either. Read the release notes before upgrading so you understand what changed, then stop the node cleanly, update, and restart. Running your node as an auto-starting background service makes the restart painless. A light maintenance log of when you updated keeps future troubleshooting simple.