Take bitcoin. Is it actually decentralized? You need someone to record your transaction on the blockchain. There are, in practice, like 5 gatekeepers - the minkng pools. You are lucky that they currently accept your transaction, but you already see they jacked up the fees. The fees will only get larger as there is more transaction volume and as the # of bitcoins awarded to miners goes down. There you go. You are once again back to paying the miners to be your trusted financial intermediaries. It's just called "miners" instead of "banks" but the database is nearly centrally controlled by a group of five mining pools who have most of the hash rate. Arms races always lead to centralization!
PS: sure you are protected in terms of current ownership, which is valuable, but at any time your account can be frozen.
Take bitcoin. Is it actually decentralized? You need someone to record your transaction on the blockchain. There are, in practice, like 5 gatekeepers - the minkng pools. You are lucky that they currently accept your transaction, but you already see they jacked up the fees. The fees will only get larger as there is more transaction volume and as the # of bitcoins awarded to miners goes down. There you go. You are once again back to paying the miners to be your trusted financial intermediaries. It's just called "miners" instead of "banks" but the database is nearly centrally controlled by a group of five mining pools who have most of the hash rate. Arms races always lead to centralization!
PS: sure you are protected in terms of current ownership, which is valuable, but at any time your account can be frozen.