One of the reasons decentralized public blockchains are useful is because theoretically, anyone can download a copy of the ledger(blockchain), sync up to the present block and then validate current transactions.
What better way to make sure the cryptocurrency you just bought isn’t all smoke and mirrors than running your own node and participating in the network.
However, depending on the computing requirements of the protocol and the length of time the protocol has been running, it can become difficult for most people to run computers or buy enough storage to keep up with the information stored in the chain. i.e. is the protocol socially scalable(easy for most people to run a node) or computationally scalable(can handle a large throughput but requires special computers most cannot afford).
The current size of the Ethereum Classic ledger is about 300GB and it can be run on a computer with 4GB of RAM. The storage will have to be a SSD drive as mechanical drives can not keep up with the disk read/write requirements of mainnet.
PS: I initially tried syncing to the tip of the chain which was about block 14,000,000 with a mechanical drive. it’s been a week and I am only at block 3,000,000.
My Setup