Nodes are critical to the proper functioning of many blockchain networks, and uncovering real time statistics about different types of nodes can be hard work. In a bid to make accessing stats easier, TokenAnalyst has teamed up with BitMEX Research to create NodeStats that give users an insight into Parity and Geth nodes on the Ethereum network. If you’re into nodes and the Ethereum network, NodeStats is definitely the tool for you.
Issues with the Data
The data from the Parity full node occasionally reports that its ‘in sync” with the Ethereum blockchain, but is in fact thousands of blocks behind the chain tip. This incorrect data highlights a certain weakness in the Parity node whereby a hacker could double spend. A user could accept a payment or smart contract execution as verified while their node claims to be at the chain tip, whereas in fact it’s not. The attacker could use this to their advantage to allow the user to send the product or service while never receiving the funds. Fortunately, it’s very unlikely that this type of attack would be successful, but the NodeStats data could help attackers pull it off.
Parity Forcing Users to Upgrade
Last month Parity urged users running versions from before 2.9-stable and 2.3.2-beta of the Parity full node to upgrade after a vulnerability was discovered that forces nodes to shut down. This would leave the networks they underpin more susceptible to a 51% attack and a complete chain takeover. Fortunately, no hackers managed to exploit the bug and all nodes were upgraded to newer versions where the bug was patched.
Masternodes Earning Money While You Sleep
Setting up a masternode might seem like a bit of a headache – especially when you have to download and sync 200GB of blockchain – but the rewards are worth it. If you can secure yourself a good masternode on a decent blockchain network, you can earn good money while you sleep, work or take the dog for a walk. Think of it as passive income that requires very little attention. If you decide to set up a Geth or Parity masternode, you can track the usage stats and requirements from NodeStats – pretty cool, huh!
NodeStats is certainly a very niche analytics platform, but thousands of node owners will find it useful. By analyzing data, node owners can discover how to make their nodes more profitable by improving efficiency or changing to a different type of node.
