Has Bitcoin Finally Lost Its Decentralization?

[Accardo]

You may be confusing bitcoin with fundamentally flawed altcoins such as ethereum.

This is one of the reasons why the Proof of Stake (PoS) protocol is fundamentally flawed. If someone controls a large number of coins of a PoS coin they gain a lot of power in that chain. Good news is that Bitcoin is using Proof of Work (PoW) algorithm not the flawed PoS that some shitcoins use. Which means it doesn't matter how much coins any entity has, it gives them no power over Bitcoin. The only thing they can do with large amounts of bitcoin is to influence the market and that's pretty much it.

Currently, the government invested funds into the bitcoin market for profits. They're not ready for mining, yet. If they had it in mind, with cash, to control a higher percentage of hash rates, than most miners, wouldn't it be achievable? However, even if it happens that the Governments wants to attempt a hard fork, the network will still be decentralized, and most bitcoin developers will control the network.

The government’s last thing on bitcoin is to obey the rules written by a computer programmer. They want it when everyone is below their authority. Since the government can’t write policies, rules, and TOS on the bitcoin network, Bitcoin is a decentralized network, for life.

[OgNasty]

Bitcoin has been more and more centralized for a long time. I’ve seen some signs of decentralizing mining lately though. The increase of popularity in lottery mining is a great thing to combat big mining companies that are centralizing hashrate. At some point the market will correct and lottery miners that don’t care about profitability are going to add salt to the wound of debt ridden mining companies struggling to maintain their business during a time of no profitability.

[Darker45]

Perhaps we might want to ask, to begin with, why is Bitcoin decentralized? Is it because it doesn't have a ruling body or a CEO or administrator? Is it because nobody has an exclusive control, authority, and power to make decisions on its behalf? Or is it because its native currency is widely spread out or evenly distributed? To my understanding, the decentralization of Bitcoin comes from the network's design such that during Bitcoin's earliest days when the circulating supply is focused only on a handful of individuals it remained perfectly decentralized.

[Alana Arden]

Thats a question we all would like to know. Has Bitcoin been finally sold out to big businesses, corporations, investment groups and even countries?? In the last few years these things have resonated louder than ever. Investment groups buying thousands and even millions worth of Bitcoin at a time, countries even making the once comical like currency its very own currency for everyday life. So the question once again is asked... Has Bitcoin Finally Lost It's Decentralization? Let us know of your thoughts and comments on this and thanks again.

The Bitcoin blockchain is not centralized, and no organization is controlling it. It is completely decentralized. But yes, Bitcoin price movements can light up the market due to some large institutional investors buying huge amounts of Bitcoin. But this does not mean that Bitcoin will lose its decentralization or independence.
    Bitcoin uses a Proof of Work (PoW) algorithm, so no one has any control over it. If only censorship is introduced and enforced, Bitcoin will lose its decentralization and become centralized, but that would completely work against the purpose of Bitcoin.

[Dr.Bitcoin_Strange]

The fact that some big investors have invested in Bitcoin and some companies are holding a large sum of Bitcoin, but that doesn't mean that Bitcoin is centralized, Bitcoin is not centralized, perhaps the inventor is not known by the government. So many altcoins  developers are well known and if by chance anything happens, the authorities can just influence the project but they can not comfortably do that with Bitcoin.

[dansus021]

Has Bitcoin Finally Lost Its Decentralization? The Answer is no I mean if you talk about bitcoin circulation the company like Blackrock own fraction of bitcoin supply tho in theory Blackrock can bought all the bitcoin with their AUM hahah that right now counting 3 Trillion dollar but hey is not easy like that. Some country like Elsalvador start accept bitcoin as a payment but this alone not gonna make bitcoin lose its decentralization/

Bitcoin mining in other hand looks like own by big company like DCG group that own now 30% of Bitcoin hashrate but somehow the community still here and make 51% attack impposiblle at least for now.

[fredericktaylor]

Because it is not governed by a centralised organisation or authority, Bitcoin is known as decentralised. Blockchain technology is used to handle and record Bitcoin transactions in a public, distributed ledger. Around the world, a large number of computers, or "nodes," are in charge of maintaining the blockchain. Since every node has a copy of the blockchain, it is nearly hard for someone to manipulate the system without obtaining the approval of every node. This structure prevents any one individual or group from controlling Bitcoin, and it also prevents central regulation of the system.

[CoinFoxs]

We are hearing this question since many years in my opinion it would not be centralised as we don’t know who is controling bitcoin right now. There is no company or individual who claimed to control bitcoin’s price. If bitcoin is or was centralised then the price may be fixed at some point but we see dips and pumps in bitcoin’s price and by time passing the bitcoin grows as members added to this community and people prefer bitcoin just for it’s decentralisation.

[Onyeeze]

Thats a question we all would like to know. Has Bitcoin been finally sold out to big businesses, corporations, investment groups and even countries?? In the last few years these things have resonated louder than ever. Investment groups buying thousands and even millions worth of Bitcoin at a time, countries even making the once comical like currency its very own currency for everyday life. So the question once again is asked... Has Bitcoin Finally Lost It's Decentralization? Let us know of your thoughts and comments on this and thanks again.

it is obvious that starting from the establishment of Bitcoin bitcoin have never been a a centralized currency rather a bitcoin is a decentralized currency so when looking at it you will see that what makes bitcoin to be more firm is when companies invest in Bitcoin that helps to Skyrocket the price that is why we always seek for more investors come in into bitcoin investment so that there will be a massive bullrun, so I believe that bitcoin cannot be hijacked by any company or being hijacked by any government because it is a decentralized currency which cannot be controlled, only thing I'm seeing there is that many people invest in Bitcoin for future purpose not that there are trying to make a bitcoin a centralized currency

[Z-tight]

We are hearing this question since many years in my opinion it would not be centralised as we don’t know who is controling bitcoin right now. There is no company or individual who claimed to control bitcoin’s price.

It isn't even about an individual or institution claiming control over BTC, the network was designed to be decentralized and censorship resistant, it is not possible for it to be centralized because there is no single point of failure. The government cannot seize the network, unlike how they do with mixers and centralized services, there is nothing to be seized in the BTC network, nodes are scattered all around the world, so there can be no central authority over the BTC network.

[nakamura12]

Because it is not governed by a centralised organisation or authority, Bitcoin is known as decentralised. Blockchain technology is used to handle and record Bitcoin transactions in a public, distributed ledger. Around the world, a large number of computers, or "nodes," are in charge of maintaining the blockchain. Since every node has a copy of the blockchain, it is nearly hard for someone to manipulate the system without obtaining the approval of every node. This structure prevents any one individual or group from controlling Bitcoin, and it also prevents central regulation of the system.

That's why some central banks regulated some exchanged platform like in my country where they can earn profit from it since they can't control the bitcoin due to it being decentralized. I also wouldn't say that it lost its decentralization when it's been a decentralized cryptocurrency starting from its creation until to this day. Anyway, I think you mean having more than 50‰ hash rate to be able to attack but it won't be easy to achieve it.

[legiteum]

I feel like people are talking past each other here. People have different definitions of the same term and are answering it accordingly.

Is Bitcoin "decentralized"? It depends on what you mean by "decentralized".

The term can mean:

1. The data for the ledger is stored in a highly redundant way, making it essentially impossible to lose a transaction.

2. The systems holding the ledger can be governed by multiple separate legal entities, making it difficult for governments to exercise any control over the software.

3. The way most people use the product is self-custodial, such that they are actually effected by #1 and/or #2.

Hence:

1. Systems (whether they use the blockchain architecture or not) that store the ledger on an insufficiently geographically disperse datastore are "not decentralized". In this sense, Bitcoin is very much decentralized.

2. Currencies that are on networks controlled by a single legal entity, or a small and identifiable number of entities that could easily be captured by a government (viz. all PoS networks like Ether) are "not decentralized". In this sense, Bitcoin is mostly decentralized (although >50% of the hashrate is controlled by only a few companies).

3. "Not your keys, not your coins". Unless you physically hold your private keys on your actual person using your own private storage system (e.g. your iPhone) then you are not using a decentralized product by any definition. Most people today use Bitcoin and other cryptos through a broker or an app that either stores their keys for them, or simply marks their holdings in some central database. In this sense, Bitcoin is not, in the defacto way people use Bitcoin, "decentralized".

I think those saying "Bitcoin is not decentralized" are saying it in the sense of #3.

I think those saying, "only Bitcoin is decentralized and all other digital currencies are not" are saying it in the sense of #2.

I think those saying that most of the more popular digital currencies like Ether etc. are still "decentralized" are saying it in the sense of #1.

Personally, my own focus is average consumers and getting digital currencies to be a mainstream mass-appeal phenomenon. Hence my own viewpoint is that of #3 when you ask me this question. My answer to the survey above was, "who cares?" (yes, that was me ), and I answered that way because the customers I focus on definitely don't care, and the market is showing us that at least 90% of the market doesn't care.

I think a lot of the people who answered "no" are, like me, thinking in terms of #3.

People who answered yes are thinking in terms of #1 or #2.

[pawanjain]

Thats a question we all would like to know. Has Bitcoin been finally sold out to big businesses, corporations, investment groups and even countries?? In the last few years these things have resonated louder than ever. Investment groups buying thousands and even millions worth of Bitcoin at a time, countries even making the once comical like currency its very own currency for everyday life. So the question once again is asked... Has Bitcoin Finally Lost It's Decentralization? Let us know of your thoughts and comments on this and thanks again.

Bitcoin being decentralized means that the bitcoin network is decentralized since it is a Peer to Peer network.
The nodes on the network which validates the blocks containing bitcoin transactions are the ones responsible for decentralization.
This has nothing to do with an entity holding a large amount of bitcoin.

[The Cryptovator]

If I am not wrong, this matter has been discussed many times. You may use the search button to get old discussions and more ideas. Technically, Bitcoin will remain decentralised always. Since wallet doesn't have limits, anyone can buy any amount, and they can sell as well. There is no way to prevent them, and that's why Bitcoin decentralised. No one can control it, either trade, buy, or sell. When someone is selling, on the other hand, someone is buying too. It does lead to a drop in price, though it doesn't make Bitcoin centralised anyway. The function of Bitcoin is decentralised; this wouldn't be questionable. 

[Findingnemo]

That doesn't make it less decentralised, it makes the demand to rise so the price will hike. It's impossible for anyone or few of them to buy every Bitcoin that's available and in theory if they make it happen the Bitcoin will cease to exist but if they stop Bitcoin there will be another one with same algorithm of Bitcoin let's say LTC that will become the next thing so the cryptos became inevitable so there is no point of accumulating with the intention of stopping it from adoption.

[dkbit98]

Has Bitcoin Finally Lost It's Decentralization?

Bitcoin network remains decentralized, and it will stay like that with proof-of-work, but distribution of coins is changing after Blackrock entered the market and start buying coins.
This is not the only company who decided to invest in Bitcoin, but they have most power to manipulate markets because they are majority owners of most assets in the world.
Everyone can help Bitcoin decentralization by running their own nodes, using non-custodial wallets, and decentralized exchanges.

[examplens]

No one can control it, either trade, buy, or sell. When someone is selling, on the other hand, someone is buying too. It does lead to a drop in price, though it doesn't make Bitcoin centralised anyway. The function of Bitcoin is decentralised; this wouldn't be questionable. 

By its very nature, Bitcoin is decentralized, but certain entities are trying very hard to change that. I am more concerned with the fact that some people own large amounts of Bitcoins, have power and are very prone to manipulation to make extra profit.

[Felicity_Tide]

I have always attributed Bitcoin decentralization to it's network, and other criteria comes second. As long as no individual is in charge, then it's still holds its quality of decentralization, and not necessarily centralization. But taking a look at how it's currency is been distributed among hodlers, which is enough to question the decentralization since certain users have more portion of it than others as a result of differences in purchasing power. But I don't really see any threat in this, as long as the individuals who buy Bitcoin massively are not a single entity (i.e they don't work for one another).

The most important factor that keeps Bitcoin decentralized has been how the network is structured, where everyone depends on another to make changes (i.e take a decision). No single person can just wake up and make some changes without the consent of thousands/millions of users that are connected to the same network. So, I still believe that Bitcoin is still decentralized, and will continue to be decentralized, as long as it is not managed by a single person.

[icalical]

Who buys or owns most of Bitcoin's won't have big influence on Bitcoin decentralization, Bitcoin's blockchain continues to be secured by thousands of independent miners around the world, and participation is open to anyone with an internet connection. The problem will occur when big company invest in mining and take over 51% of Bitcoin network. Bu I think the Bitcoin community will remain vigilant in advocating for decentralization, whether it’s by supporting smaller miners, using decentralized exchanges, or developing new technologies that keep the power distributed. While Bitcoin hasn’t fully “sold out,” the growing influence of large entities is something we should watch closely to ensure that it stays true to its decentralized roots.

[m2017]

No, Bitcoin is still decentralized. It is an internal property of Bitcoin. The only thing big groups can do is manipulate the price by buying/selling.

This is probably what @mrquackquack meant when he spoke about the decentralization of bitcoin (although this is not entirely correct), when large holders of bitcoin can influence the price and manipulate the market.

Sure they can buy off the devs but once those devs go against the Bitcoin community, they will no longer be accepted as devs.

If this becomes known to the BTC-community, and before that moment there is time to do harm.

In fact, anyone can be a dev. All you have to do is make a contribution to Bitcoin code which the larger part of the community agrees with.

How many active BTC-developers are there at the moment? Probably a few dozen at most?

There is another point regarding decentralization: the majority of the hashrate (computing power) is in the hands of only a few mining companies, which also doesn't benefit the discussions about decentralization.