Dr. Mark Richardson agreed that the meaning of decentralization has shifted, and in some cases, it’s eroding entirely.
When Bitcoin first emerged in 2008, decentralization was not just an ideology — it was a necessity. Bitcoin was a protest against government-controlled money, offering an alternative financial system that didn’t rely on banks, institutions, or centralized authorities. But today, we’re seeing the same governments that Bitcoin was meant to circumvent now embracing it.
“People are applauding the US government even talking about setting up a Bitcoin reserve, celebrating it as if this is what we wanted all along. But originally, the goal was to exclude governments from the system — not invite them in.”
He goes on to say the same pattern can be seen in Ethereum. It started out as more decentralized than Bitcoin, but today, large validators like Lido control a majority of the stake.
“Ethereum’s transition to Proof-of-Stake was supposed to further decentralization, but now you have two-thirds of the stake concentrated in a single entity. That’s the opposite of decentralized.”
The big question: Are these natural growing pains, or is decentralization being quietly phased out?
