If Bitcoin is centralized, will it still have value ?

[suzanne5223]

Bitcoin value is tied to it's decentralized nature and the principle it was founded. if Bitcoin were to become centralized, it would likely have a significant impact on its value.

If Bitcoin become centralized it will still have value but it will significantly impact the value of Bitcoin market because the community trust n it will reduce since the major reason why the community truly have trust in BTC is because of it decentralization which make it hard for the government to intervene in BTC just like they are doing now with XRP. Besides,  there's huge chance of BTC being close down if it was centralized coin when some government see it's high potential as threat to their national currency.

 

[DoublerHunter]

The bitcoin survived over a decade for the decentralized character,because the price of bitcoin will not be controlled by any individual.So trader can get maximum multiple of the profit from the bitcoin.The price of bitcoin will depend on the demand in the market it will be the reason of the decentralized.So when the bitcoin became the centralized,their is possibility of reduction in the bitcoin in the market.But their is no chance for the bitcoin to became the centralized coin in the cryptocurrency market.

^ BTC has endured for more than a decade precisely due to its decentralized nature, which ensures that its price remains immune to individual control. This decentralization empowers traders to potentially realize substantial profits from BTC's fluctuations. The price of BTC is intricately tied to market demand, a core characteristic of its decentralized design. The shift towards centralization could indeed lead to a reduction in BTC's market presence. However, the likelihood of BTC becoming a centralized coin within the cryptocurrency market is remote. The very essence of BTC's resilience lies in its decentralized foundation, and this fundamental principle is expected to persist and centralization could invite government regulations and constraints, further impacting its value.

[DanWalker]

Besides,  there's huge chance of BTC being close down if it was centralized coin when some government see it's high potential as threat to their national currency.

 

If bitcoin becomes centralized, I don't think the government will shut it down but instead they will take control and use it for their own purposes. I believe the government as well as we all see the potential of bitcoin, but since they cannot control it, they see it as a threat to fiat. And if they can control bitcoin, they will acknowledge its potential, but on the contrary, bitcoin will become a threat to us like fiat. But anyway, this hypothesis will never happen because bitcoin is already decentralized and no one can control it. The value of bitcoin will be completely dependent on supply and demand, not manipulated by the government or anyone.

[worle1bm]

Why are we always busy in making up scenarios which doesn't fit in the system like this one? If it was centralised it may have value for usage but the concept is about decentralisation of funds by Satoshi.The fiat have value other tokens that are central controlled have value so it's about the usage actually.It was created with the aim of decentralisation which boost up the whole idea.

[kryptqnick]

Others pointed out very well that there are a lot of meanings of centralization, and the answer about Bitcoin's value depends on what's meant. I'd also add that some centralization options are probably impossible with Bitcoin because it just wasn't built like that.
Bitcoin could hypothetically move from PoW to PoS, and PoS is more centralized than PoW, but considering the level of opposition to this idea within the community, I find that option unlikely. But if that happened, I don't think Bitcoin would lose or gain much value from it.
To me, centralization is mainly about control over the supply and the price, as it works for fiat. But it's impossible to gain that control over Bitcoin due to how it's designed.

[legendbtc]

I have always believed that it is bitcoin's decentralization that sets it apart from every other asset and has caused demand for it to increase, which will increase its value.

This can be argued, take note that there are so many people who don't care if BTC is censorship resistant, permissionless or decentralized, these people just want to buy BTC through a centralized exchange and even hold it there to make revenue, and from my observation, these people are greater in number than those who use BTC in the way in which it was created for.

BTC was created to be a p2p network without a third party, but how many people trade BTC without a middleman involved in the trade, if BTC was centralized, and still maintains its fixed supply and volatility, it will have value because people will see they can make revenue from it, so there will be demand, but the user base of people who want a censorship resistant currency may not use it.

I am not saying that if bitcoin becomes centralized it will have no value but its value will be controlled and regulated by the government or a third party. People are making profits through centralized exchanges, which also doesn't mean bitcoin's decentralization is completely useless. And just because people are using centralized exchanges to make money, doesn't mean they aren't using bitcoin for other purposes. Maybe they are using bitcoin for cross-border payments, or they are using bitcoin to become their own bank after making a profit...Isn't that a feature of decentralization?

If you consider that decentralization is not what makes bitcoin different and valuable it is today. So what makes bitcoin so valuable and where does its volatility come from?

[icalical]

If BTC was centralized but everything else like the Blockchain, launching date, etc is the same. I think it will still have value, look at how many centralized crypto in the market right now, and they still have value. But the value will much more different than now, the community wouldn't be as strong, and the price wouldn't be as high as of now. Though it will still be the father of cryptocurrency since you never mention to delay the launch.

[EarnOnVictor]

Bitcoin value is tied to it's decentralized nature and the principle it was founded. if Bitcoin were to become centralized, it would likely have a significant impact on its value. the decentralized nature of Bitcoin is a key factor in it's value.

I see things differently from your perspective, or should I say from the perspective of many people. What is unique and appreciated most about Bitcoin is the blockchain technology. The decentralization however helps it as well, especially during the initial stage as it was almost impossible for the government and critics to clamp down on it.

While it tries to grow in value at the early stages, the first things that helped further were more access and listing, then businesses build around it through centralized systems like exchanges. This further builds confidence and accessibility that makes people believe that they can buy and sell Bitcoin without anything delaying their transaction (business confidence).

For this, I believe many things are to be appreciated in this value reference, not particularly decentralization.

[tbct_mt2]

Now if in a hypothetical case this happens and they find a way to centralize it, it would cause a kind of notorious decline, since most seek this for the simple reason that no one besides the one who owns the bitcoin can control it, if this changes it will no longer they will see bitcoin in the same way, since the people who probably caught their attention would lose interest, considerably lowering the demand and therefore the value of the BTC.

I don't think it will happen but assume it will.

I believe it will be a very big milestone in Bitcoin history and I am sure it will impact Bitcoin price, communities and market a lot. It will cause massive panic and certainly market will have panic sells but it won't last too long. The market will come to a point to calm down and bounce back from it, then strongly recover when people realize they did panic sells.

Because Bitcoin has bigger communities, better than centralized shitcoins so how will it drop to like $100 or $10 because of becoming centralized? It is very impossible in my opinion but maybe some people will disagree with me on that.

[Eternad]

in conclusion, Bitcoin value is derived from its decentralized nature, which is closely with it's ideal, and any move towards centralization could fundamentally alter it's core and diminish it's value proposition.

You’re right about Bitcoin value derived from its decentralized nature but most importantly was Bitcoin is the first coin who introduced blockchain technology that makes this decentralized nature possible because there’s a lot of shitcoun nowadays already has same feature and the only difference of Bitcoin to them is the Bitcoin creators is not active anymore and they are the first mover in crypto.

Without the things that I mention, Bitcoin is just like any other and it’s value will not grow to the current value.

[goldkingcoiner]

Bitcoin value is tied to it's decentralized nature and the principle it was founded. if Bitcoin were to become centralized, it would likely have a significant impact on its value. the decentralized nature of Bitcoin is a key factor in it's value. Bitcoin decentralization have contributed to it scarcity and security. all of this which are factors that influence it's value.

if Bitcoin were to become centralized, it could raise concerns about the control, and the investors might loss confidence in it's ability to remain a reliable store of value and a medium of exchange. centralization could also make it suspicious to government regulation and restrictions, which could further impact on it's value.

in conclusion, Bitcoin value is derived from its decentralized nature, which is closely with it's ideal, and any move towards centralization could fundamentally alter it's core and diminish it's value proposition.

If Bitcoin were to become centralized, in any way or fashion, it would instantly become just as worthless as fiat. Albeit a fiat which is more advanced and better than the current fiat. But it would still become worthless, at least in my eyes. The very point of Bitcoin is to be decentralized money, otherwise we are back at where we started at and not only would it be centralized, it would be a tool of control and Surveillance. Nobody would accept that.

[Abu-Naim]

If BTC was centralized but everything else like the Blockchain, launching date, etc is the same. I think it will still have value, look at how many centralized crypto in the market right now, and they still have value. But the value will much more different than now, the community wouldn't be as strong, and the price wouldn't be as high as of now. Though it will still be the father of cryptocurrency since you never mention to delay the launch.

If BTC is centralized, considering it is the pioneer crypto coin, the team behind it might have been manipulating the world for a long time, and it will not get the massive adoption it has already gotten globally.

Moreover, just as other coins are trying to meet up with bitcoin through competition, some of the team members might have betrayed the system for their selfish interests, which might lead to a drastic fall in price, and it couldn't have survived to this level.

[famososMuertos]

Well... the fact of asking that question denotes conceptual weaknesses, which is normal within the configuration of how bitcoin works to some users. Such a scenario is not predictable, it is so improbable that you question is a bit imprecise.

In any case, given the versatility of cryptocurrencies, you can technically have centralized bitcoin but not Bitcoin. 

[BITCOIN4X]

The basic concept is decentralization and I don't think it will turn into centralization even if the government really wants to control it. Also decentralization is not the main thing that determines the value of bitcoin, but I believe that if bitcoin can eventually be controlled in all sorts of super expensive ways, then surely many people or investors will abandon it.

Supply and demand in the market is the main thing that determines value, but decentralization also plays a role in the level of trust users have in bitcoin use cases over the years.

[taufik123]

There will be no single institution that can fully control Bitcoin.
Bitcoin is decentralized which means it cannot be regulated by anyone including the government.

The reason why Bitcoin cannot be controlled by anyone completely is because Bitcoin uses a Proof-of-Work (POW) Network system that makes it possible for the Bitcoin network to operate independently without a central authority.
It's made up of thousands of computers called nodes spread all over the world.

So no one can fully control it.
The government can only provide rules according to its working area, it will not affect the Bitcoin Network system directly.
They may only be able to manipulate.

Then, can the Bitcoin POW Network become PoS?
Of course that will never happen, because Bitcoin with the POW Protocol network is the identity of Bitcoin, Bitcoin with POW will remain decentralized.

[Alpha Marine]

The concept of some people always go that bitcoin being centralised it will devalue bitcoin, but from the creation of bitcoin satoshi have already know that if bitcoin being centralised they will be enough challenges and competitions in bitcoin and that is why satoshi made bitcoin to decentralized with the Co team, even though it was centralized bitcoin would have still have value, even now that bitcoin is still decentralized do you know that people still be scared of bitcoin and they also devalue bitcoin, so nothing can be created and it fails to have people that will become antagonist to it, op should know that

The decentralized nature of Bitcoin is what makes people trust Bitcoin. The trust Bitcoin has is what gives Bitcoin its value. Bitcoin doesn't have so much value today because it was the first cryptocurrency ever made. If Bitcoin was a centralized coin, the fact that it was the first cryptocurrency won't mean shit if isn't trusted. Funny enough it might not even be remembered today. It would just be another trivia question, "which coin was the first cryptocurrency ever created and in what year was it created?

I agree that decentralization may not be the only feature that makes Bitcoin stand out, but that is the feature that makes it unstoppable.
The government has no direct way of attacking Bitcoin and that's because it's decentralized, imagine Bitcoin is owned and controlled by a firm, that firm would always be under attack from the government.

[serjent05]

The concept of some people always go that bitcoin being centralised it will devalue bitcoin, but from the creation of bitcoin satoshi have already know that if bitcoin being centralised they will be enough challenges and competitions in bitcoin and that is why satoshi made bitcoin to decentralized with the Co team, even though it was centralized bitcoin would have still have value, even now that bitcoin is still decentralized do you know that people still be scared of bitcoin and they also devalue bitcoin, so nothing can be created and it fails to have people that will become antagonist to it, op should know that

The decentralized nature of Bitcoin is what makes people trust Bitcoin.

It is also the reason why some people do not trust Bitcoin.  People have different preferences, one can trust one thing and at the same time, the other will not trust that same thing.  We should be open-minded on the possibilities since people have different reaction and thought on a same event.

The trust Bitcoin has is what gives Bitcoin its value. Bitcoin doesn't have so much value today because it was the first cryptocurrency ever made. If Bitcoin was a centralized coin, the fact that it was the first cryptocurrency won't mean shit if isn't trusted. Funny enough it might not even be remembered today. It would just be another trivia question, "which coin was the first cryptocurrency ever created and in what year was it created?

True that it is the trust and confidence that Bitcoin will deliver is the reason why it has value.  It is not because it is decentralized but rather being the pioneer in the industry and its creation as the start of the crypto revolution. 

I agree that decentralization may not be the only feature that makes Bitcoin stand out, but that is the feature that makes it unstoppable.
The government has no direct way of attacking Bitcoin and that's because it's decentralized, imagine Bitcoin is owned and controlled by a firm, that firm would always be under attack from the government.

Satoshi is genius, getting out of the scene even before Bitcoin boom.  This way the government don't have a way to pressure the decentralized nature of Bitcoin since there is no central authority or person to pressure.  No one can threat a system that is working in a decentralized system.  They can shutdown some but new one will pop-up just like the torrenting file system.

[suzanne5223]

Besides,  there's huge chance of BTC being close down if it was centralized coin when some government see it's high potential as threat to their national currency.

If bitcoin becomes centralized, I don't think the government will shut it down but instead they will take control and use it for their own purposes. I believe the government as well as we all see the potential of bitcoin, but since they cannot control it, they see it as a threat to fiat. And if they can control bitcoin, they will acknowledge its potential, but on the contrary, bitcoin will become a threat to us like fiat. But anyway, this hypothesis will never happen because bitcoin is already decentralized and no one can control it.

I believe you should know by now that the government never cares about what you do and I think the situation will give them the needed benefit.
If Bitcoin is centralized, I believe it will be shut down/totally banned in some countries that are currently using it now due to political interest, and the reason why some governments somehow support Bitcoin is because of its decentralized mechanism. An example is what happened to Libra which said will be global cryptocurrency, the governments of different countries were against it until the team and investors involve quit the project.

The value of bitcoin will be completely dependent on supply and demand, not manipulated by the government or anyone.

Let's not lie to ourselves, there will always be market manipulation in the Bitcoin market despite its decentralization in nature and being dependent on the level of demand and supply.

[DanWalker]

Besides,  there's huge chance of BTC being close down if it was centralized coin when some government see it's high potential as threat to their national currency.

If bitcoin becomes centralized, I don't think the government will shut it down but instead they will take control and use it for their own purposes. I believe the government as well as we all see the potential of bitcoin, but since they cannot control it, they see it as a threat to fiat. And if they can control bitcoin, they will acknowledge its potential, but on the contrary, bitcoin will become a threat to us like fiat. But anyway, this hypothesis will never happen because bitcoin is already decentralized and no one can control it.

I believe you should know by now that the government never cares about what you do and I think the situation will give them the needed benefit.
If Bitcoin is centralized, I believe it will be shut down/totally banned in some countries that are currently using it now due to political interest, and the reason why some governments somehow support Bitcoin is because of its decentralized mechanism. An example is what happened to Libra which said will be global cryptocurrency, the governments of different countries were against it until the team and investors involve quit the project.

I don't know about the coin you're talking about, but if you assume that when bitcoin is centralized, the government will shut it down, then why don't they shut down other centralized altcoins in the market? ETH or BNB and all the rest of the altcoins are also centralized, but why do they just close Libra coin and ignore all other altcoins? Once bitcoin becomes centralized, it is no different from altcoins.

The value of bitcoin will be completely dependent on supply and demand, not manipulated by the government or anyone.

Let's not lie to ourselves, there will always be market manipulation in the Bitcoin market despite its decentralization in nature and being dependent on the level of demand and supply.

I mean, in the future, when bitcoin matures and becomes bigger like gold or the stock market, nobody can manipulate it anymore. For what's going on, with a market cap of just $1 trillion, manipulation is inevitable and easily manipulated. I'm not denying what's going on.

[posi]

There will be no single institution that can fully control Bitcoin.
Bitcoin is decentralized which means it cannot be regulated by anyone including the government.

The reason why Bitcoin cannot be controlled by anyone completely is because Bitcoin uses a Proof-of-Work (POW) Network system that makes it possible for the Bitcoin network to operate independently without a central authority.
It's made up of thousands of computers called nodes spread all over the world.

So no one can fully control it.
The government can only provide rules according to its working area, it will not affect the Bitcoin Network system directly.
They may only be able to manipulate.

Then, can the Bitcoin POW Network become PoS?
Of course that will never happen, because Bitcoin with the POW Protocol network is the identity of Bitcoin, Bitcoin with POW will remain decentralized.

We all know that bitcoin is decentralized and it will never become centralized, it will forever be decentralized and no one can control it.

But OP's question is if it becomes centralized, is it worth it? And I think it will still be worth it, but it won't be as big as it is now. The value of bitcoin comes from people's trust and need, people need a decentralized asset to escape government control and bitcoin has provided that. So I also think that decentralization is what makes bitcoin so valuable.