In the OP, the author says there are "approximately 5,000 computers" in the bitcoin network. I'm curious if you believe this is right too? Those are some powerful computers... (yes, "duh" indeed, I'm still awed).
That could very well be true. All mining for BTC is done via ASICs now, specialized silicon that just hashes crazy fast, but can't even get a TCP connection up and running. For networking, a bunch of ASIC chips is typically connected to some embedded computer, and even that usually isn't a direct peer on the Bitcoin network, but only connected to a mining pool server with hundreds of other such ASIC controllers. And this server then is the first actual part of the Bitcoin p2p network, single-handedly representing a mind-boggling multi-Megawatt hash power infrastructure.
Even most BTC users do not run actual clients anymore but use exchanges or wallet services which bundle huge numbers of users behind few actual Bitcoin network nodes.
Even most BTC users do not run actual clients anymore but use exchanges or wallet services which bundle huge numbers of users behind few actual Bitcoin network nodes.