Translated text:
Source: My Zhihu
Summary: "Decentralization" is considered a selling point, but it feels somewhat empty
I have been studying blockchain technology for about 2 years and have been involved in the cryptocurrency industry for a long time.
I remember when I first started learning about blockchain, a lot of introductory articles explained it using the feature of "decentralization," as if "decentralization" was the calling card of blockchain. However, as I delved deeper into my studies, I increasingly felt that this feature seemed more like a "selling point" used to attract people, and the actual experience was not very strong.
There is no absolute decentralization, only the dispersal and weakening of power
When it comes to "decentralization," people often single out public blockchains. I am also an application developer focusing on the field of public blockchains, and I have participated in various projects on several public chains. However, I still believe that even mature blockchains like Ethereum are not truly "decentralized." I prefer to call it "weakly centralized," meaning that the degree of centralization is not very strong. There are two main reasons for this:
Regardless of development, developers always have more power than ordinary users.
The core developers of the underlying public chain (members of the official foundation) have the most power because they establish or modify the "rules" on the chain. Next are the application developers on top of the chain, who are responsible for designing and implementing user interaction logic. They need to follow the chain's "rules" but also create "gameplay" for ordinary users. Non-technical ordinary users become the "proletariat" who have to follow the "gameplay." They have the right to voice their opinions, but this has already been achieved in web2. When there is unequal power, there is no "decentralization."
Your assets on the chain belong to you, but the chain does not belong to you
Although we have not yet seen developers of a chain going bankrupt and running away, I believe it is not impossible. You may think that anyone can run a node and if a company fails, they can run it themselves. However, something that has lost hope for development will gradually disappear, and your assets on this chain may be destroyed the moment news of the company's bankruptcy and escape spreads because people will panic.
It is called a selling point because it evokes people's yearning for utopia
I remember when I first entered university (2020), I didn't know how the industry of "blockchain" was viewed outside the Great Firewall since I couldn't access the internet freely. However, within the Great Firewall, opinions on this emerging industry were mixed. On Zhihu, people's views on this industry can be said to be split 50-50. Some people believe it is the "next generation internet," while many others think it is a scam. However, now, it seems that the majority of voices online are singing its praises. The brilliance of a bull market has attracted a lot of attention, but it is still a relatively niche industry. Therefore, many marketing accounts have emerged. They only have a superficial understanding but still try to educate others, and "decentralization" naturally becomes one of their selling points.
The so-called "decentralization," as the name suggests, is the opposite of "centralization." People have suffered from the oppression of "centralization" in the real world, so they began to pursue a "decentralized" life in the virtual world.
The most direct advantage should be the openness and trustworthiness of data
It is too easy to falsify data in web2, and whoever owns the platform has the final say. However, this mechanism has been disrupted by blockchain. Platforms cannot control user data, and the data seen through a blockchain browser is trustworthy and publicly accessible to everyone. It breaks down information barriers and allows users to play with peace of mind.