Turn your Raspberry Pi into a Bitcoin Full Node

Raspberry Pi Bitcoin Node
(Image credit: Tyler Jones, Howchoo)

Turn the raw processing power of your Raspberry Pi into a Bitcoin Full Node with this awesome Raspberry Pi Bitcoin node project. It was developed and shared by Howchoo's Tyler Jones just earlier this week.

Jones decided to use the 4GB model of the Raspberry Pi 4 to operate as the main board of the project. Though this isn't the most powerful option, it meets the minimum requirements to run a Bitcoin Full Node.

Raspberry Pi Bitcoin Node

(Image credit: Tyler Jones, Howchoo)

One of the biggest hurdles you'll face is storage space. Most Pi users run the OS on a microSD card which doubles as internal storage. Unless you've got a huge microSD card, you'll need to up your storage situation. Jones decided to use an external hard drive and explains how to configure it to work with the Pi in his project breakdown. Whatever you decide to use, you'll need more than 350GB to house the entire Bitcoin blockchain.

The project runs on Raspberry Pi OS. The main application used is called bitcoind—this is the official Bitcoin Core daemon. Jones is using the Bitcoin Core for ARM Linux on the Raspberry Pi.

Check out the Raspberry Pi Bitcoin Full Node project on Howchoo for more details, pictures and a complete breakdown of how this project is put together.

Ash Hill
Contributing Writer

Ash Hill is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware with a wealth of experience in the hobby electronics, 3D printing and PCs. She manages the Pi projects of the month and much of our daily Raspberry Pi reporting while also finding the best coupons and deals on all tech.