Bitcoin Forum

When Bitcoin came out first, one of the biggest reason the community endorse it so much is because of the idea of decentralization. But the ironic thing is most of the transactions now occurs in the centralize exchanges. How far are we from a fully decentralize system?

that is just what you are assuming and have no proof to back your guess up.

is bitcoin used my a lot of investors as a way to make money? yes
are these investors using exchanges to do so? yes
does that make bitcoin centralized? no.
is it the whole usage of bitcoin? obviously not. there is a lot more to it than that. there are millions of dollars being spent on buying different goods from millions of merchants around the world.

Centralization can happen if there are parties in groups trying to manipulate bitcoin prices, as happened in 2013. They seem to be the ones who control the bitcoin.

I don't think you understand what decentralization is. Bitcoin by its very nature was designed to be decentralized. The only way for it become centralized is if one person owns over 50% of the network hashrate.

Just because people buy from centralized exchanges does NOT mean that bitcoin itself is centralized.

We are just taking little baby steps toward a DeCentralized world- bitcoin is just the beginning.

What does the Fully Decentralize System means?
It is decentralized enough so no one can speculate with it or controls it. Some aspects make the bitcoin infrastructure a bit more centralized like the LN, but I don't think this will make any difference in the meaning of speculations or control.
You can decide for yourself how centralized you want it to be, using exchanges, LN, mixers or making direct payments, same as the security, if you do it properly, lower risk to loose your money.  

It's an ecosystem that gives you freedom to decide how you gonna use it.

Yes, those are my assumptions. I just feel like we lives in the bubble created by the force of centralization. But I also believe after the correction, the whole market and bitcoin itself overall will grow stable and steady.

People will soon abandon centralized exchanges dues to strict regulations and bad services. I'm sure when that happen, it is the time for decentralized exchange to rise. Currently, there are lot of decentralzed exchange are being developed out there, and soon people will migrate to it.

define a fully decentralized system? then explain why bitcoin doesn't satisfy that definition.

bitcoin is the most decentralized system that you can find and hope for. there is little room left for improvement and all the third party centralized services such as exchanges, payment processors, gambling sites, shops,... has nothing to do with the fact that bitcoin is decentralized.

I think we're missing the point of "Decentralized". The more people I talk to, the more I understand that nobody understands what it's even good for, and more importantly, the current limitations of decentralization.

What we have today is not truly decentralized, and it will be a very long time before true decentralized systems crop up. But we are in the right way.

Now, crypto-currencies have a completely decentralized management system.

It is important that the state does not affect the activities of investors. The more people have crypto-currencies, the better for a crypto community

The bitcoin itself is decentralized and if it is traded in some exchange that is centralized, does not mean bitcoin is centralized. We have the choice to deal with exchanges that are decentralized.

these crypto currencies are decentralised but they are not used as mainstream currencies and due to the high volatile nature it is really difficult to be used as the mainstream currency also the people all over the world are not completely aware of it and they don't know its true potential but still i know that it will be used as decentralised currency all over the world it is just a matter of time and according to me it is still going to take around 10-15 years to happen

Bitcoin will not be centralized otherwise bitcoin will cease to exist. Decentralization is the blood of bitcoin existence so whenever bitcoin becomes centralized then bitcoin will no longer be. Hope the developers will find away to over come this centralization stress.

What do you mean by we?

Everyone will have varying degrees of answers because not everyone uses centralized services as much as the others. One could easily not use any kind of centralized service and thus achieve being "in a fully decentralized system".

Either way, I don't think majority of transactions happening within centralized services hurt Bitcoin's decentralization as a whole. Everyone still plays by the same rules at the end of the day.

Everyone wants to follow decentralized system. Bitcoin is the first decentralize coin. But now a day’s every trades are occurring with centralize system. But i think in recent times this culture will change.

idea of decentralization is grabbed me towards cryptos. but the sad part is fully decentralize system will take a lot more time to happen. as you can see after som many years of staggle we are in platfrom were decentralize system is working. decentralize system is not so much liked by the goverments i guess. for the reason it will take a bit more to me.

On my understanding, when you say 'decentralized system', you are referring to anything that runs P2P without any central authority mandating it, and bitcoin is a perfect example of that definition. The production of the coins are carried out by groups of miners all over the world and no authority ordered them to do so, they simply started hashing right away. Using it however is a different thing. You cannot say 'decentralized' or  'centralized' on usage since people have their own choice whether or not to use their coins in a single event, service or product, so your view on a fully-decentralized system is somewhat wrong.

I think the system is already in a decentralized system. Exchanges will remain to do some basic tasks. But this is not hampering the decentralization process.

Well, bitcoin made us familiar with the decentralize process as it is the very first decentralized digital currency in the market. But the world is still depended on centralize process. But I hope that soon the world will start to move towards decentralization.

Bitcoin is decentralized, but the use of bitcoin like any crypto currency is increasingly subject to centralization, control. This process is intensified with the development of legislation on crypto-currencies in different countries. Increasingly, there is an opportunity to track who bought the crypto currency,where and then translated it, where used it. I believe that with the introduction of crypto currency into everyday life (for purchases in stores, billings for services ...), there will be no decentralization. Only the process of creating crypts will remain independent

Crypto currency is the best system for trading also its idea change the trading concept and makes our life easy based on this BTC is the 1st crypto currency in the market and this have lots of benefits also people know its benefits and still in the 1st position in the market so after few days later world currency will be crypto currency and btc will lead that currency.

I think it has become business of entrepreneurs or who have enough capital. So they hope to control the market direction as they want and then they smile to see it all. Thank you

The current bitcoin system is fairly decentralized.
The reason why most trades are concentrated on exchanges is that bitcoin is not currently suitable for large-scale use and still needs a lightning network to solve the throughput problem.

I think bitcoin still uses decentralized system, when you think whales control all bitcoins, you are wrong. Whales only pump, individuals are people who control every bitcoin.
If novice investors do not panic when bitcoin prices soar and want to HODL in a long time, maybe bitcoin prices will be much more stable.

There is a general issue with the decentralization of BITCOIN. It was designed to be decentralized but apparently more than 50% of the network hashrate is controlled by ASICs from one manufacturer and the most top ranking pools with most hashrates are controlled by networked groups with ties to the manufacturer.

True dude, even the mining pools are centralized. How I wish the crypto currency is still decentralized. There are couple of decentralized exchange sprouting these days like DDEX, IDEX, WAVEDEX.. Not sure how decentralized they are.

The system is decentralized already and we are not far from decentralization.Though some functionalities of bitcoin is done centrally but that doesn't mean that crypto if not decentralized. I think it is enough decentralized.

As far as I am concerned, Bitcoin is still as decentralized as it was, when I started in Bitcoin some 5 or 6 years ago. We might even be more decentralized than we were then. I remember a time when everyone was talking about centralization possibilities with mining pools and when we got close to that 50% attack, the miners did the correct thing and they joined other pools.

These days mining has grown into a much bigger industry and we have a lot more mining farms than we have now. The fact that people are using centralized exchanges is not a big threat to anyone, because people still trade bitcoins in a decentralized manner. <At Bitcoin meetups and with friends> 

Bitcoin is a decentralized system. That has never changed ever since. Noone has control over bitcoin, not the goveenment, not the central bank. I don't think bitcoin can get out of being decentralized. It is designed that way.  We do have centralized exchanges, but that doesnt make bitcoin centralizded.

We can't tell that because it's uncertain and can't be determined yet. All that I know is we're still decentralized and for the coming years it willwill be like this. Change will come as soon as it needs to be let's just enjoy what we have right now. Only time will tell that so focus on what is in ours at this mmoment.

I thing we atleast need 20 years, many country in the world still not have a good resources like a good internet connection etc, world's people must have a good access to internet first than we can start to decentralized the system

Bitcoin transaction over the network is what is mostly talked of as a decentralize system with public ledger but not how you buy or sell it . Exchanges are regulated and mandated by authorities to perform due diligence and hence make transacting over them make it look like a centralize.

I think there are decentralize exchanges like etherdelta but almost prone to hacking and everybody does not recommend to use it. But somehow I got all of my profits there.

I guess this will never happen. Every country that doesn't ban bitcoin needs to regulate exchanges for them to monitor and track down possible money laundering acts. I know bitcoin is created to be fully decentralized trying to correct the blunders made by our centralized currency but this will just be merely a dream for now. It's either our country bans crypto or they'll regulate exchanges. We don't have a choice since we are dealing with the government.

Partailly, centralization to crypto currency won't be that bad. For example, if government impose tax on it, then there're will a lot of investors who'll get motivate to invest this in field as they think if government is there, that will definitely be safe.

To be honest, I am expecting a whole decade to see something fully decentralized ecosystem. As of now, we are decentralized in terms of technology but still there is lack of awareness among the masses about it and they don't know what it is all about but still, some people have invested their money to earn profit from the speculation activities. The maturity and realization of the power of decentralization won't come overnight and considering the growth rate, I do see a decade for it.

The concept is wrong. Bitcoin is still decentralized and will be always decentralized. It is coin that has no centralized control and it has no central authority to rule. It is still operating under this policy of decentralization as it is the motto of the bitcoin. Most of the people use exchanges for the transaction of bitcoin but that does not prove its centralization. ::)

system will take a lot more time to happen. as you can see after som many years of staggle we are in platfrom were decentralize system is working

Quite a long time I believe..


Mehdi

We are in a decentralized system you like it or not. Yes some people may have a lot of Bitcoin and you are assuming that because they have a lot of Bitcoin they are controlling the market. This type of issue is not unique to the crypto currency market but in all market. There are people who are controlling the market, this conspiracy theory has been ongoing for quite some time now but no single evidence have been provided.

We are still in the decentralize system.

Bitcoin is decentralized currency. It design for decentralized system. There are some fault or scam has seen in system. When it happened then solid actions had taken and remove the faults. There may be more fault. Because of it you take it as centralized. Soon it may remove. One thing is sure. Company wants to give a fully decentralized system. And it will happen.