Learn : Google’s Cloud Based Blockchain Node Service

On 27 Oct 2022, Thursday, tech giant Google announced that it will be launching a cloud-based node engine for Ethereum projects.

But this is not Google’s first move about Web3.

In January 2022, Google announced that it was building a Digital Assets Team for Google Cloud in order to support the customers’ needs in building, transacting, storing value and deploying new products on blockchain-based platforms.

In the third quarter of the year, Google took steps to form partnerships with two Web3 industry leaders. In September, Google Cloud and BNB Chain announced a partnership to support the growth of early-stage Web3 startups. Earlier this month, Google just formed a partnership with crypto exchange Coinbase to provide crypto payments for its cloud service.

And now, with its own Blockchain Node Engine, Google shows its ambition to not just be a mere “partner” in the industry.

Google’s Infrastructure Modernization

Today, manually deploying a node is a time-intensive process that involves provisioning a compute instance, installing an Ethereum client (e.g. geth), and waiting for the node to sync with the network. Syncing a full node from the first block (i.e., “genesis”) can take several days.

A node is a computer that connects to and supports a blockchain network through validation and relaying transactions. Ethereum (ETH-USD) will be the first blockchain supported by the Blockchain Node Engine (BNE).

Google stated that the Google Cloud BNE is a “node-hosting service that can minimize the need for node operations” and allows web3 firms to relay transactions, deploy smart contracts and read or write blockchain data directly on Google Cloud.

What is Node?

A node is a device on the blockchain that helps to validate blocks and transactions. Nodes are responsible for making copies of the blockchain and are at the heart of the entire system of decentralization.

The greater and wider a node network is, the more secure and resilient the blockchain platform will be. Thus, it makes sense for blockchain projects to incentivize node operators to participate.

Just like mining, running nodes requires a fair amount of technical knowledge and a decent amount of equipment.

Horizen Secure Nodes, for example, require the node operator to have a computer with at least 4GB of RAM, a dedicated internet connection, a static IP Address and a valid TLS certificate. Plus, the node operator must be sophisticated enough to set up the node and make sure it remains up.

Many miners who can no longer mine profitably are looking elsewhere to achieve the hefty returns they’ve grown accustomed to. Node operations appear to be the answer as many operators earn double-digit returns for their computing power.