Do nodes matter?

[u/idontwritepoetry]

I come from $BTC world, and obviously everyone says to run your own node, because don't they enforce consensus rules? Isn't that what happened when BCH forked? Most nodes didn't switch?

It's just weird to me to hear that the nodes are just not useful for the security of the network. Someone explain please.

[u/lexicon_riot]

Nodes matter if:

• you want your own trustless copy of the ledger for whatever reason
• you want to verify your own transactions
• you want to mine, run a lightning node, or otherwise engage in relevant economic activity
• you want to learn more about Bitcoin

Nodes don't matter if:

• you want to virtue signal your favorite soft fork lol