Becoming Self-Sovereign: How to Set Up a Bitcoin Node, With Lightning If you’ve ever considered trying to set up a Bitcoin node or a Lightning node, but found the process too intimidating, you’re not alone. We’d like to help. Under the hood, Bitcoin is composed of a network of full nodes, which thousands of people around the world run on computers. Bitcoin is an anomaly in the financial world. Bitcoin has no one king with a jeweled scepter or company with a profit motive in charge. These nodes are a crucial piece of ensuring that Bitcoin remains decentralized and secure.