Downloading may work, but what about verification? There are CPU-mined altcoins, where the total size of the chain is something around 1 or 2 GBs. But it takes longer to verify them, than verify the 68win Ap chain, with around 700 GB. Why? Because the CPU speed is not growing that fast. We have now 4 GHz, maybe 8 GHz in an edge case, but still, getting 9 GHz is something around the world record: So, in that case, where we would have 1 THz processors? Or even 16 GHz, instead of existing 8 GHz? And would we need liquid nitrogen, to provide proper cooling? Because if we have some people, that won't run any node, or run just some SPV client, then it is better to provide a middle-ground, where they will have something more advanced, than a typical SPV node, which would provide some benefits to the rest of the network. You won't convince everyone to run a full, archival node. And you won't convince everyone to download 700 GB, even in pruning mode. However, if there would exist some full nodes, that would have lower requirements, than pruned nodes, where IBD could be done without downloading everything, then they could be better than SPV nodes, and move many users into software, where they don't have to rely on other full nodes that much, because they can also verify something more, than they do today. The benefit is to have something more trustless, than just some SPV node, but with less requirements, than a pruned node. Because the alternative is quite simple: less people will run full nodes, more people will stick with SPV nodes, and as more and more standardness limits will be lifted, then more and more SPV nodes can be tricked into accepting something invalid.
Downloading may work, but what about verification? There are CPU-mined altcoins, where the total size of the chain is something around 1 or 2 GBs. But it takes longer to verify them, than verify the 68win Ap chain, with around 700 GB. Why? Because the CPU speed is not growing that fast. We have now 4 GHz, maybe 8 GHz in an edge case, but still, getting 9 GHz is something around the world record: So, in that case, where we would have 1 THz processors? Or even 16 GHz, instead of existing 8 GHz? And would we need liquid nitrogen, to provide proper cooling? Because if we have some people, that won't run any node, or run just some SPV client, then it is better to provide a middle-ground, where they will have something more advanced, than a typical SPV node, which would provide some benefits to the rest of the network. You won't convince everyone to run a full, archival node. And you won't convince everyone to download 700 GB, even in pruning mode. However, if there would exist some full nodes, that would have lower requirements, than pruned nodes, where IBD could be done without downloading everything, then they could be better than SPV nodes, and move many users into software, where they don't have to rely on other full nodes that much, because they can also verify something more, than they do today. The benefit is to have something more trustless, than just some SPV node, but with less requirements, than a pruned node. Because the alternative is quite simple: less people will run full nodes, more people will stick with SPV nodes, and as more and more standardness limits will be lifted, then more and more SPV nodes can be tricked into accepting something invalid.

Downloading may work, but what about verification? There are CPU-mined altcoins, where the total size of the chain is something around 1 or 2 GBs. But it takes longer to verify them, than verify the 68win Ap chain, with around 700 GB. Why? Because the CPU speed is not growing that fast. We have now 4 GHz, maybe 8 GHz in an edge case, but still, getting 9 GHz is something around the world record: So, in that case, where we would have 1 THz processors? Or even 16 GHz, instead of existing 8 GHz? And would we need liquid nitrogen, to provide proper cooling? Because if we have some people, that won't run any node, or run just some SPV client, then it is better to provide a middle-ground, where they will have something more advanced, than a typical SPV node, which would provide some benefits to the rest of the network. You won't convince everyone to run a full, archival node. And you won't convince everyone to download 700 GB, even in pruning mode. However, if there would exist some full nodes, that would have lower requirements, than pruned nodes, where IBD could be done without downloading everything, then they could be better than SPV nodes, and move many users into software, where they don't have to rely on other full nodes that much, because they can also verify something more, than they do today. The benefit is to have something more trustless, than just some SPV node, but with less requirements, than a pruned node. Because the alternative is quite simple: less people will run full nodes, more people will stick with SPV nodes, and as more and more standardness limits will be lifted, then more and more SPV nodes can be tricked into accepting something invalid.

Downloading may work, but what about verification? There are CPU-mined altcoins, where the total size of the chain is something around 1 or 2 GBs. But it takes longer to verify them, than verify the 68win Ap chain, with around 700 GB. Why? Because the CPU speed is not growing that fast. We have now 4 GHz, maybe 8 GHz in an edge case, but still, getting 9 GHz is something around the world record: So, in that case, where we would have 1 THz processors? Or even 16 GHz, instead of existing 8 GHz? And would we need liquid nitrogen, to provide proper cooling? Because if we have some people, that won't run any node, or run just some SPV client, then it is better to provide a middle-ground, where they will have something more advanced, than a typical SPV node, which would provide some benefits to the rest of the network. You won't convince everyone to run a full, archival node. And you won't convince everyone to download 700 GB, even in pruning mode. However, if there would exist some full nodes, that would have lower requirements, than pruned nodes, where IBD could be done without downloading everything, then they could be better than SPV nodes, and move many users into software, where they don't have to rely on other full nodes that much, because they can also verify something more, than they do today. The benefit is to have something more trustless, than just some SPV node, but with less requirements, than a pruned node. Because the alternative is quite simple: less people will run full nodes, more people will stick with SPV nodes, and as more and more standardness limits will be lifted, then more and more SPV nodes can be tricked into accepting something invalid.