Will Bitcoin become centralized sometime in the future?

[Abiky]

To ensure some sort of centralisation never happen, the best way is still to spread the hashrate concentration to multiple new pools. I guess since there is more and more people coming into the game, and a lot more will come I think because of the price rise, actions will never have to be taken.

I've thought so too. The more Bitcoin rises in price, and popularity, the more people it will attract, expanding the whole mining ecosystem and decentralizing Bitcoin even further.

As long as new pools come into the game, and could help spread the hashrate, then we could rest assured that BTC will be even safer than ever by preventing a 51% attack.

Nevertheless, I think that in order to encourage any average Joe to start mining Bitcoin, ASIC manufacturers would have to come up with a solution that will have ease mining setup, and most of all energy efficient to help restore mining at home. That would definitely spread the hashrate even further. Just my thoughts. 

[Victorycoin]

Unless there are ways to compete the advantages that chinise miners have such as cheap electricity, good location, ASIC which produced in the same country and lots of investors, i doubt anyone could beat chinise miners in mining.

They seem to have got it all figured out and each passing day, they are consolidating on that. Centralization of any type is everything that bitcoin does not stand for and for the worse, quite a significant number of bitcoin enthusiasts are yet to see the pitfall ahead of that.

[GMPoison]

I dont really care at the minute where in the world the mining is done as long as no 1 miner has anywhere near 51% of the hash power.  Like has been said before if mining was centralising in Sweden it would probably never be mentioned.  

But if 5 mining pools control over 51% and colluded with each other behind the scenes , you can stay happy and clueless.  
Nice little delusion, you got there.  


 

FYI:
BTC has been centralized for over a year.
BTC= Better Trust China

Mining pools themselves don't control the network, those who use said mining pools do. This is what is meant by decentralized.

Remember what happened when Ghash.io hit 51%? This is what happens when a single pool gets too close to 51%, the people respond and protect the network.

https://blockchain.info/pools
 

[The_Dark_Knight]

As Bitcoin mining is partially controlled by Chinese miners, I have a feeling that sometime in the near future, Bitcoin can become centralized if no solution against this is proposed.

If BTC could manage to bring a solution towards mining centralization by preventing mining pools with the most hashrate to effectively gain control of the network, then it would aim to become more decentralized over the years.
 
As mining difficulty increases and new ASIC hardware gets developed, it would make it less possible for any average user to mine Bitcoin, thus making it more centralized each day.

Nevertheless, I would like to know your opinion about this, as if BTC becomes centralized, it might cause it to decrease in value, and most of all, violate the principles that it was created for. 

Bitcoin mining follows similar rules than mining gold, when the price of gold is low then you need to find places with a high concentration of gold, as gold becomes more expensive then you can begin to mine other places that may not have such a high concentration of gold, with a bitcoin price that high it may be possible for investors to start mining operations in other countries besides China.

[n0ne]

Centralization would not allow bitcoin to grow better. The reason is that controlling authority always aims at more and more profit, which affects the common users. To eliminate this bitcoin needs to continue as a decentralized currency. Sometimes the miners gather together as a community and raise increased fee for transaction or something related to it, but they too won't support centralized system. Miners too gets affected with their earning when they become a worker under a head.

[Xester]

Nope, bitcoin is not going to go that way and not even close. The government has no desire or whatsoever to centralized bitcoin rather they are busy on their project creating a blockchain based fiat virtual currency. This fiat virtual currency is centralized and unlike bitcoins it is controlled by banks and by the government. It is controllable, monitored to combat tax evasion, money laundering and forgery.

[Senor.Bla]

The question is what is centralized? Just 51% of the hash power or something else? because if i remember correctly we had some time with poop having more then the 51%. For small periods this might be ok, but not on the long run. Also no one should have the desire to own this much, as he most likely earning good money with it and a centralization should hurt the price. 

[royalfestus]

Possibly if the centralization goes to china, and the anonymous satoshi is from America, and the relationship of america and china gets worse because of the new president. It wont be good for bitcoin. If I am afraid of any intelligence in the world NSA tops the list. One wont be able to guess the outcome if they plan to attack bitcoin from there. Centralization won't be good for bitcoin in the future

[iram3130]

Even if we decide to make the Bitcoin as centralized, Who are we to decide.? and How to centralize it.?
One of the best features of Bitcoin is that it is decentralized. So I guess it would be better if we keep it that way.

[davis196]

As Bitcoin mining is partially controlled by Chinese miners, I have a feeling that sometime in the near future, Bitcoin can become centralized if no solution against this is proposed.

If BTC could manage to bring a solution towards mining centralization by preventing mining pools with the most hashrate to effectively gain control of the network, then it would aim to become more decentralized over the years.
 
As mining difficulty increases and new ASIC hardware gets developed, it would make it less possible for any average user to mine Bitcoin, thus making it more centralized each day.

Nevertheless, I would like to know your opinion about this, as if BTC becomes centralized, it might cause it to decrease in value, and most of all, violate the principles that it was created for. 

Bitcoin is moving towards centralization because of the mining difficulty.This is normal.

Higher mining difficulty,less munber of miners.

In the end ,we have only Chinese miners.

[geopolisch]

It is every bitcoiners responsibility to support local miners to prevent the dominance of China.
Recently I come across a proposal from theymos on high hash power mining contracts. This type of inventions will support preventing bitcoins from moving into one single country's control.

China's adoption of bitcoin is good, but we need similar development in other countries too for better future for bitcoins.

[GMPoison]

It is every bitcoiners responsibility to support local miners to prevent the dominance of China.
Recently I come across a proposal from theymos on high hash power mining contracts. This type of inventions will support preventing bitcoins from moving into one single country's control.

China's adoption of bitcoin is good, but we need similar development in other countries too for better future for bitcoins.

That's exactly how I feel. It's decentralized for a reason, so use your powers to make a difference! I hope to get mining soon even if it isn't much or doesn't make me much money, just to support bitcoin.

[iqlimasyadiqa]

I hope that it can be happen that bitcoin will be centralized

Nevertheless, I would like to know your opinion about this, as if BTC becomes centralized, it might cause it to decrease in value, and most of all, violate the principles that it was created for. 

I think it can reduce the value because its centralized and i think the people who are using bitcoin they are want privacy and become anonymous.. if bitcoin will become centralized i think more company will ask for our real identity.. this is just what i thoughts.

one characteristic of bitcoin is having anonymouse trait. if centrally in my opinion will still be able anonymouse bitcoin and also maintained our privacy. bitcoin has a unique system, allowing bitcoin will be able to have properties such as now when it has had a centralized structure in the future.

[gredisgold88]

As Bitcoin mining is partially controlled by Chinese miners, I have a feeling that sometime in the near future, Bitcoin can become centralized if no solution against this is proposed.

If BTC could manage to bring a solution towards mining centralization by preventing mining pools with the most hashrate to effectively gain control of the network, then it would aim to become more decentralized over the years.
 
As mining difficulty increases and new ASIC hardware gets developed, it would make it less possible for any average user to mine Bitcoin, thus making it more centralized each day.

Nevertheless, I would like to know your opinion about this, as if BTC becomes centralized, it might cause it to decrease in value, and most of all, violate the principles that it was created for. 

I strongly agree with you, if the ownership and mining bitcoin be centered not be denied and can not be blamed for the occurrence of monopolistic pricing and ownerships bitcoin

[royalfestus]

"centralization is unwelcome for many users of the currency outside of China. The structure of Bitcoin means that if a single user mines the majority of the currency, then it is able to rewrite the blockchain if it sees fit and even veto changes to the underlying technology. "
MIT review(https://www.technologyreview.com/s/603295/why-bitcoins-1000-value-doesnt-matter/)

[franky1]

"centralization is unwelcome for many users of the currency outside of China. The structure of Bitcoin means that if a single user mines the majority of the currency, then it is able to rewrite the blockchain if it sees fit and even veto changes to the underlying technology. "
MIT review(https://www.technologyreview.com/s/603295/why-bitcoins-1000-value-doesnt-matter/)

lol more fake rhetoric trying to point fingers at the chinese.. all to make sure people are not looking in the direction of the devs.
come on. stop the racist rhetoric of grouping people together simply because of skin colour.

[mining1]

Let's not kid ourselves, currently bitcoin IS centralized. And that because it's proof of work algorithm favorises centralisation, because of the asics. They build them, use them, and sell them for ridiculous prices, and if you buy them and after one year you get your money back, from that point on the asic won't be profitable anymore, getting oudated and you won't make any more profit.
If something bad happens in china and for any reason the plug get's pulled, bitcoin is killed.
Problem is, it can't be forked because the oligarchy that control it's hashrate won't agree to it, they'd kill it along with their mining profit if somehow bitcoin went POS, best algorithm out there.

[GMPoison]

Let's not kid ourselves, currently bitcoin IS centralized. And that because it's proof of work algorithm favorises centralisation, because of the asics. They build them, use them, and sell them for ridiculous prices, and if you buy them and after one year you get your money back, from that point on the asic won't be profitable anymore, getting oudated and you won't make any more profit.
If something bad happens in china and for any reason the plug get's pulled, bitcoin is killed.
Problem is, it can't be forked because the oligarchy that control it's hashrate won't agree to it, they'd kill it along with their mining profit if somehow bitcoin went POS, best algorithm out there.

There is no oligarchy that controls bitcoin's hashrate. The only time that ever came close to happening was with ghash.io, and hours later the power of decentralization kicked in and ghash.io was outed by the community. Now look at the distribution of hash rate, even years later no one single pool is even close to 51%.  

[franky1]

Let's not kid ourselves, currently bitcoin IS centralized. And that because it's proof of work algorithm favorises centralisation, because of the asics. They build them, use them, and sell them for ridiculous prices, and if you buy them and after one year you get your money back, from that point on the asic won't be profitable anymore, getting oudated and you won't make any more profit.
If something bad happens in china and for any reason the plug get's pulled, bitcoin is killed.
Problem is, it can't be forked because the oligarchy that control it's hashrate won't agree to it, they'd kill it along with their mining profit if somehow bitcoin went POS, best algorithm out there.

the bit in red is wrong.
firstly the pools most are racist about have already mitigated the risk of being "pulled". they operate multiple stratums in other countries. the asic farms are not all in china. the managers of the pools are not in china. yes they may speak chinese. but dont let that fool you

PoS is not the best algo out there.. its simply the fantasy of holders getting paid for doing no work.. but the reality that only the rich will get richer. plus PoS is not as secure as PoW

[Shady]

Bitcoin is starting to spur representation from within start-ups that contain economic standards which aim at putting new people into currency circulation.

This effect acts as a governing body without true leadership... Once Bitcoin is fully mined, I imagine him making updates or tweaking the max amount in his lifetime to extend growth.

No matter the reason, the owners of Bitcoin.org have been responsible for the sustainability and sponsorship of all cryptocurrencies.