Monero network in 2026: why run your own node
Monero network growth in 2026 — hash rate, nodes and daily tx, and why running your own Monero node beats trusting a stranger's RPC.
Monero's network keeps compounding quietly: hash rate up roughly 45% since 2024, reachable nodes up over 50% to around 45–50,000, daily transactions up about 60% — and an estimated 15–20% of nodes now announce over Tor or I2P. Each full node you run strengthens that last number.
Why a private node is worth the setup
- ▹Your wallet verifies balances against your own chain view, not someone else's RPC.
- ▹Transactions broadcast from your own IP, uncorrelated with other users.
- ▹You stop leaking which addresses you query to a third-party node operator.
- ▹Every node you add makes the network harder to partition or observe.
Sizing an XMR node
A pruned node runs comfortably on a mid-range VPS with full root; the reference Monero daemon even supports running over Tor for maximum operational privacy. Our Monero node guide covers sync, remote RPC for a wallet and keeping the daemon bound to localhost.