Are some cryptos decentralized while some are not?

[Okwara]

Hearing about Blockchain and cryptocurrency, I got to know that they offer a decentralized system of finance, where each user has control over their crypto, deciding on how and when to use their crypto.

But again, I've heard about investors losing their money in crypto due to irregularities from the project owners. And this brings me to wonder if these teams still have control over the crypto that is supposed to be decentralized? Or is it that some cryptocurrencies are decentralized while some are not?

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[dzungmobile]

Hearing about Blockchain and cryptocurrency, I got to know that they offer a decentralized system of finance, where each user has control over their crypto, deciding on how and when to use their crypto.

Cryptocurrencies are a lot, including Bitcoin and alternate cryptocurrencies aka. altcoins.

• Coinmarketcap lists 9302 cryptocurrencies, but in fact the number is bigger than that. Many dead altcoins and scam tokens created and did not list on Coinmarketcap or Coingecko as they died after a few hours.

About decentralization, only Bitcoin network is decentralized. Altcoin networks are all centralized.

But again, I've heard about investors losing their money in crypto due to irregularities from the project owners. And this brings me to wonder if these teams still have control over the crypto that is supposed to be decentralized? Or is it that some cryptocurrencies are decentralized while some are not?

If you want to invest in altcoins, you must look at their token distributions. If majority of tokens belong to team members or some whale wallets, you can smell risk of rug pull or dump from those wallet holders. Avoid any project has such risky token distribution.

[Nwada001]

About decentralization, only Bitcoin network is decentralized. Altcoin networks are all centralized.

That's not true; Bitcoin is not the only coin that is decentralised; there are other coins that are also considered to be under the decentralised network. They are few, but they're better than none. Check out the list here; it has not been updated recently, but I still consider it valid.

Code:

Ticker Name   MarketCap (USD) Price (USD)  ATH          Notes

Market cap over 1 billion:

BTC    Bitcoin     486.3 bn.  25000     69000    (11/21)
DOGE   Dogecoin      8.3 bn.      0.059     0.75  (5/21)     meme coin
LTC    Litecoin      5.3 bn.     72       412.70  (5/21)  
XMR    Monero        2.4 bn.    132       519.76  (5/21)     privacy coin

10 million to 1 billion:


DASH   Dash           324 M.     28      1642.22 (12/17)     privacy coin*
RVN    Ravencoin      211 M.      0.017     0.28  (2/21)
ARRR   Pirate Chain    41 M.      0.21     16.87  (4/21)     privacy coin
MONA   MonaCoin        30 M.      0.35     11.13  (1/18)     meme coin
GRS    Groestlcoin     25 M.      0.30      3.08  (4/21)    
NMC    Namecoin        21 M.      1.47      9.22  (1/18)     first known altcoin

1 million to 10 million:

PPC    Peercoin         9.5 M.    0.34      9.92  (1/18)     first known PoS coin
VTC    Vertcoin         5.8 M.    0.09      7.81  (1/18)
GRC    Gridcoin         4.9 M.    0.011     0.55  (1/21)     BOINC participation reward
GRIN   Grin             4.8 M.    0.03     19.21  (1/19)     privacy coin
PND    Pandacoin        4.4 M.    0.0001    0.47  (5/21) 
NAV    NavCoin          3.6 M.    0.048     5.53  (1/18)  
SIGNA  Signum           2.7 M.    0.0013    0.23 (12/20)     known initially as 'Burst', first Proof-of-capacity coin
EMC    EmerCoin         2.4 M.    0.05     10.53  (1/18)     DNS on blockchain
GAME   GameCredits      1.8 M.    0.01      6.90  (1/18)
TIPS   Fedoracoin       1.7 M.    0.000003  0.00025 (1/18)   Has a premined secondary coin, Fedora Gold
BTCZ   BitcoinZ         1.6 M.    0.0001    0.03  (1/18)     privacy coin
EMC2   Einsteinium      1.4 M.    0.006     1.30  (1/18) 

200,000 - 1 million:

FTC    Feathercoin      814 K     0.003     0.72  (1/18)
BLK    BlackCoin        810 K     0.013     1.31  (1/18)
XPM    Primecoin        766 K     0.03      4.11  (5/18)     prime number algorithm
DEM    Deutsche eMark   766 K     0.005     4.89  (6/21)
AEON   Aeon             635 K     0.04      9.45  (1/18)
CLOAK  Cloakcoin        585 K     0.09     34.44  (1/18)     privacy coin
PIRATE PirateCash       478 K     0.009  3017    (10/22)     privacy coin
KRB    Karbo            428 K     0.044     1.23  (7/22)     privacy coin
ZCL    Zclassic         399 K     0.043   248.73  (1/18)     privacy coin
MOON   Mooncoin         373 K     0.000002  0.005 (7/19)     
QRK    Quark            288 K     0.001     0.079 (1/18)
RIC    Riecoin          359 K     0.005     1.14  (3/14)     prime number algorithm
PASC   Pascal           283 K     0.07      5.70  (1/18)     Pascal-based ref. implementation

Lower than 200,000:

TRC    Terracoin        152 K     0.015     0.64 (11/20)
GAP    Gapcoin          101 K     0.057  1305     (4/22)
YAC    YaCoin            55 K     0.004     0.006 (2/21)     
BIS    Bismuth           47 K     0.015   227.84  (7/22)     Python-based ref. implementation
SLM    Slimcoin          36 K     0.001     0.05  (2/19)     first Proof of burn coin

Low volume (take market cap with grain of salt):

I0C    I0Coin           371 K     0.017     5.58  (4/19)
CHAT   ChatCoin         102 K     0.00015   0.54  (1/18)
VRC    VeriCoin          27 K     0.0007    4.63  (1/18)     
DTC    Datacoin          10 K     0.0002    0.028 (3/18)     blockchain cloud storage

Unknown market cap:

HBN    Hobonickels     ?          0.0003    0.069 (1/18)


* Dash has been described as a "security" by SEC due to its governance mechanism.

[hosseinimr93]

Bitcoin is decentralized and almost all altcoins are centralized.

But again, I've heard about investors losing their money in crypto due to irregularities from the project owners.

If there's someone known as the project owner, that's enough to conclude that the coin/token is centralized.

All coins/tokens that are premined are centralized.
All coins/tokens that are sold through ICO, IEO, etc. are centralized.

And this brings me to wonder if these teams still have control over the crypto that is supposed to be decentralized?

Take note that if you want to have full control over your fund, you should use your own non-custodial wallet and you should be the only one who has access to the private key(s).
In the case you keep your coins/tokens in a centralized service like an exchange, it's the centralized service that has control over the fund, even if that's bitcoin which is the most decentralized cryptocurrency.

[tabas]

Hearing about Blockchain and cryptocurrency, I got to know that they offer a decentralized system of finance, where each user has control over their crypto, deciding on how and when to use their crypto.

DeFi's? I think that despite being called as decentralized finance, those users that have their wallets connected and have their cryptos deposited into a DeFi service still losses custody of their coins as they deposit and connect their wallets to those respective DeFi services. Why? Because of the series and events of DeFi hacks have made people lost their funds. Like these events: https://chainsec.io/defi-hacks/

But again, I've heard about investors losing their money in crypto due to irregularities from the project owners. And this brings me to wonder if these teams still have control over the crypto that is supposed to be decentralized? Or is it that some cryptocurrencies are decentralized while some are not?

Honestly, the term decentralized is being used and abused by many project developers. They tend to mention that they're a decentralized project but lies behind that, they're not. Bitcoin is decentralized and that's what the meaning of it. And don't buy onto those projects that have been labelling themselves as a decentralized project. Another thing, DeFis are no longer a thing today.

[JeromeTash]

At least there is one truly decentralized blockchain network that we know. The major attributes that make it decentralized are that;
1. No organization or owner having full control over it. The code is open source and different developers from allover the world can contribute to the development of Bitcoin. Bitcoin improvement proposals can be approved or rejected by the community, not just one lead developer.

2. The network consensus mechanism is POW which we are well a ware supports decentralization unlike a majority of altcoins that use POS

[Smeet]

Cryptocurrencies come in various forms, with differing levels of decentralization. At one end of the spectrum, we have cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, which are known for their high degree of decentralization. These cryptocurrencies operate on the blockchain youve likely heard of, where transactions are recorded on a global network of nodes. No single entity or organization has absolute control over these networks. Instead, transactions are verified and added to the blockchain by a decentralized network of participants using consensus mechanisms like Proof of Work (PoW) or Proof of Stake (PoS). This decentralization is a key feature of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, promoting transparency, security, and resistance to censorship.

On the other hand, some cryptocurrencies are more centralized in nature. These often have a central entity or organization that issues or controls the currency. For example, Ripple's XRP is managed by a company called Ripple Labs, which has a significant level of control over XRP transactions and its supply. Also, stablecoins like USDC or USDT are issued by centralized entities that hold reserves of traditional fiat currency. While these cryptocurrencies offer stability and quick settlement times, they may not provide the same level of decentralization and censorship resistance as Bitcoin or Ethereum.

[cryptoaddictchie]

But again, I've heard about investors losing their money in crypto due to irregularities from the project owners. And this brings me to wonder if these teams still have control over the crypto that is supposed to be decentralized? Or is it that some cryptocurrencies are decentralized while some are not?

The reason for this is probably due to the lack of security of some defi altcoins. However these projects have premine tokens and likely due to investors money.   Depends on the tokenomics of the project, can say decentralized if the tokens alloted for the team is really low and mostly for the community like bitcoin have.

[DVlog]

Hearing about Blockchain and cryptocurrency, I got to know that they offer a decentralized system of finance, where each user has control over their crypto, deciding on how and when to use their crypto.

But again, I've heard about investors losing their money in crypto due to irregularities from the project owners. And this brings me to wonder if these teams still have control over the crypto that is supposed to be decentralized? Or is it that some cryptocurrencies are decentralized while some are not?

In our current crypto market bitcoin is the only decentralized coin. Though there are some other altcoin that is almost decentralized it is not as good as bitcoin. In the crypto space those who say they are decentralized they actually talking about their service being decentralized. Most of these projects create tokens to raise funds for the project development when they keep a big portion of the token for themself. If they succeed with their project their token value increases if they fail they just dump their token.

[Mate2237]

About decentralization, only Bitcoin network is decentralized. Altcoin networks are all centralized.

That's not true; Bitcoin is not the only coin that is decentralised; there are other coins that are also considered to be under the decentralised network. They are few, but they're better than none. Check out the list here; it has not been updated recently, but I still consider it valid.

For now, so far so good, bitcoin is the only decentralized cryptocurrency which I know and why bitcoin is decentralized because nobody knows the controling power of bitcoin, though, bitcoin was created by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008 and launched in 2009 and in the April 2011, Satoshi Nakamoto left the system/project. So bitcoin became anonymity. As others have said, if any other cryptocurrency which the creators are well known and still involved in the management then it is a central system because they can manipulate the process for the owner.

As for me I know only bitcoin as a decentralized cryptocurrency and any other one is a central digital currency. All those coins you quoted or mentioned are all under the category of altcoins and all altcoins are central coins.

[un_rank]

If there's someone known as the project owner, that's enough to conclude that the coin/token is centralized.

For sometime after the launch of Bitcoin, Satoshi had an online personality from which they communicated, will that be considered a known project owner too?

It is true that Satoshi has always been anonymous and no one could link the pseudonym to any real life personality, but they could still greatly manipulate the system when they were still active.

I think that if a project can be fully based on consensus and no one person can determine what happens, that counts as decent enough decentralization.

- Jay -

[nakamura12]

Cryptocurrencies are a lot, including Bitcoin and alternate cryptocurrencies aka. altcoins.

• Coinmarketcap lists 9302 cryptocurrencies, but in fact the number is bigger than that. Many dead altcoins and scam tokens created and did not list on Coinmarketcap or Coingecko as they died after a few hours.

About decentralization, only Bitcoin network is decentralized. Altcoin networks are all centralized.

I think it's only normal for websites to never include dead tokens and such as it is already considered not crypto since it's no longer used by people and for scam cryptos then it's because it is the same or similar to as how real crypto is made doesn't mean it's also crypto and as we have known it is only created for scamming people of their money. If people doesn't want to get scammed then better invest in legit Crypto like Bitcoin.

[BIT-BENDER]

And this brings me to wonder if these teams still have control over the crypto that is supposed to be decentralized?

This statement is a wrong thought, not every project or coin in cryptocurrency is decentralized, like we have centralized exchange so we have projects that are focused on centralized. Although this situation has nothing to do with decentralization but the project themselves. There are scam projects out there and they would always try to take advantage of their investors, and yes I believe they would have some control over your coin/token if it is still in their ecosystem but if their coin supports being stored in other wallet that would be your personal wallet then their control is limited. But still the prize of the coin and success still depends on the work they put in

[Sim_card]

Hearing about Blockchain and cryptocurrency, I got to know that they offer a decentralized system of finance, where each user has control over their crypto, deciding on how and when to use their crypto.

We have a lot of cryptocurrency. Bitcoin is the decentralized one amongst the rest and most of the altcoins are centralized because they are closed source.

But again, I've heard about investors losing their money in crypto due to irregularities from the project owners. And this brings me to wonder if these teams still have control over the crypto that is supposed to be decentralized?

Yea because the crypto is not bitcoin there is a high tendency that it will fail,and that is why you should only invest on altcoins with money that you can avoid to loss because it is like gambling. You can wake up one morning and the project have crashed. Sometimes they are scam projects. Another thing is that if you keep your funds in a Centralized platform,it doesn't belongs to you anymore because you are not in control of your funds.

[kamvreto]

Honestly, the term decentralized is being used and abused by many project developers. They tend to mention that they're a decentralized project but lies behind that, they're not. Bitcoin is decentralized and that's what the meaning of it. And don't buy onto those projects that have been labelling themselves as a decentralized project. Another thing, DeFis are no longer a thing today.

What was originally decentralized then changed to centralized because of several changes made. Related to the ecosystem is the POW consensus Network change to POS and Bitcoin stays with POW and ETH changes from POW to POS. However, when it comes to exchange platforms, exchanges such as Binance, Coinbase, etc. are centralized, and there will be many obstacles and risks that could occur. Not your keys not your coins. and projects that claim they are decentralized must certainly prove it by the consensus network they use

[Doan9269]

Hearing about Blockchain and cryptocurrency, I got to know that they offer a decentralized system of finance, where each user has control over their crypto, deciding on how and when to use their crypto.

Blockchain is a decentralized network and also wn open distributed ledger, if you understand what these means then you will know that it's provides with every solution needed in how we want have our digital coin and which one to go for.

But again, I've heard about investors losing their money in crypto due to irregularities from the project owners. And this brings me to wonder if these teams still have control over the crypto that is supposed to be decentralized? Or is it that some cryptocurrencies are decentralized while some are not?

You can loose your money if you invested on the wrong coin in cryptocurrency, this makes bitcoin the only recommended digital currency you can be advised to adopt, maybe you can read up on PoW and PoS to have better knowledge and understanding in this aspects.

[RapTarX]

At one end of the spectrum, we have cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, which are known for their high degree of decentralization.

You probably haven't heard about the roll back of Ethereum transaction to save the ass of a DAO from a hack although Vitalik Buterin doesn't agree that it was a roll back; they intervened. Whatever it was, it was centralization.
Is this what you call decentralization? LOL.
https://bitcoinist.com/ethereum-network-not-rolled-back-after-dao-hack/

[Myleschetty]

Hearing about Blockchain and cryptocurrency, I got to know that they offer a decentralized system of finance, where each user has control over their crypto, deciding on how and when to use their crypto.

But again, I've heard about investors losing their money in crypto due to irregularities from the project owners. And this brings me to wonder if these teams still have control over the crypto that is supposed to be decentralized? Or is it that some cryptocurrencies are decentralized while some are not?

Listen to this fact. Bitcoin is the only true decentralized cryptocurrency in the market and if you join the decentralized finance system aka DeFi study the ecosystem very well because a lot of scam activities and rug pull are used in the DeFi market by the project owner through the use of false decentralized concept to gain the trust of the investors.

[nelson4lov]

Hearing about Blockchain and cryptocurrency, I got to know that they offer a decentralized system of finance, where each user has control over their crypto, deciding on how and when to use their crypto.

But again, I've heard about investors losing their money in crypto due to irregularities from the project owners. And this brings me to wonder if these teams still have control over the crypto that is supposed to be decentralized? Or is it that some cryptocurrencies are decentralized while some are not?

It depends, honestly. We have an ongoing problem which is the blockchain Trilemma consisting of Scalability, Decentralization and Security. For the records, Bitcoin is the most decentralized but not the most scalable. Other projects that try to fix all three problems often have shortcomings in that regard. For protocol-level decentralization, we have nodes. If tgey have a foundation, then they need decentralized decision making which is expensive and time consuming.

DeFi based projects often have access controls backed into their projects (core functions that only privileged roles can call).

[Kemarit]

Hearing about Blockchain and cryptocurrency, I got to know that they offer a decentralized system of finance, where each user has control over their crypto, deciding on how and when to use their crypto.

That's why when we heard the buzz word about decentralized finance or DeFi, we can only think of Bitcoin as the only crypto currency that fits this description. No altcoins could be Defi, technically, almost all of them are centralized.

But again, I've heard about investors losing their money in crypto due to irregularities from the project owners. And this brings me to wonder if these teams still have control over the crypto that is supposed to be decentralized? Or is it that some cryptocurrencies are decentralized while some are not?

There are many ways that investors lost money, there could be exit scams, hacks or just what you describe, owners themselves turns rouge and steal all the crypto of their investors. And with that, as a investors, just be careful where you put your money, that's why majority here invest it in BTC as we have total control of our seed and private key.