Iota Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for users of Iota, the open-source cryptocurrency for IoT that does not use a blockchain. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
As I understand from this blog: https://www.tangleblog.com/2017/06/27/incentive-run-fullnode-iota/
There's an incentive for companies and in some cases people to run a full node.
But what can happen if nobody runs a full node, or only a very small portion of the users? How can IOTA guarantee that the network will have enough full nodes?
If nobody runs a full node, nobody can access the IOTA network and use it. If only a few full nodes are present and many users which connect with them, these are overloaded (like a DDoS). Also the network would be more vulnerable.
IOTA can`t guarantee that the network will have enough full nodes, alike Bitcoin or any other crypto-currency. Theoretical the IOTA Foundation could run some full nodes, but this is not the sense and purpose of a decentralized crypto-currency.
