Bitcoin only works so long as the computers are running and the internet is operating, sadly it grows even more centralized by the day.
Do you honestly believe a future reality where computers aren't running, and internet isn't operating, is a realistic view?
Absolutely.
Internet: Dictators shut down the internet all the time globally, and wrongthinkers getting deplatformed by ISPs is just around the corner.
Computers: South Africa and California already have rolling brownouts and cannot be relied upon to even keep the lights on.
I didn't say possible. I said realistic.
Bitcoin only works so long as the computers are running and the internet is operating, sadly it grows even more centralized by the day.
What you are saying is true, but even if bitcoin becomes 1000x more centralized than it is currently (by whatever metric you choose), it still wouldn't be as centralized as a national bank. Additionally, due to private / public key cryptography, it is still muuuuuuuuuuuch harder to counterfeit bitcoin transactions even if it reached an absurd level of centralization.
I don't think bitcoin is perfect, but it's still miles better than the fiat digital alternatives no matter how you cut it.
lol, what is a national bank? International banks are what we have now.
A single nation could, however, move to centralize bitcoin. China could do it easily, since they have the capability to produce the mining devices.
Also, Bitcoin is already disturbingly centralized, and has zero anonymity. We are already at the point where you cannot donate bitcoin to wrongthinkers directly from an exchange and you have to first use an intermediary wallet.
However, anyone can look at the donations to a wrongthinker and trace them back to the person who donated the bitcoin, meaning that in the very near future anyone who just deals in bitcoin can be banned from using bitcoin exchanges.
Also, Bitcoin is already disturbingly centralized, and has zero anonymity. We are already at the point where you cannot donate bitcoin to wrongthinkers directly from an exchange and you have to first use an intermediary wallet.
True, wallet addresses are public, making burner wallets necessary, but it is trivial to make burner wallets. Additionally with each intermediate stage it becomes substantially harder to prove who paid for what. If intermediate wallets are all that's needed for deniability, that's a pretty cheap price IMO.
A single nation could, however, move to centralize bitcoin. China could do it easily, since they have the capability to produce the mining devices.
They can make as many mining devices as they want, sure, but that doesn't make the miners elsewhere magically disappear. Ultimately whoever mines the block first mines the block first, and there's not jack shit they can do about that.
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