According to Adam Back, it matters that node runners operate economic nodes because those nodes enforce the network's consensus rules and form an impenetrable wall of verification against hostile forks, reinforcing which transactions the network accepts as valid, source: Adam Back on X, 21 Sep 2025. According to Adam Back, node runner culture began with defending against hostile forks, emphasizing that consensus safety in Bitcoin depends on widespread verification by economic nodes during contentious periods, source: Adam Back on X, 21 Sep 2025.