Changpeng Zhao's own handwriting: In 2022, let's talk about centralization vs. decentralization

Moni

Odaily资深作者

2022-10-09 14:33

This article is about 1736 words, reading the full article takes about 3 minutes

Decentralization is not black and white. Freedom and security go hand in hand to lead to a better future.

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Decentralization is not black and white. Freedom and security go hand in hand to lead to a better future.

This article comes fromBinance, original author: Zhao Changpeng

Odaily Translator |

“Centralization vs. decentralization” is an old, recurring topic, as old as cryptocurrencies themselves. Inevitably, I get asked this question at every AMA event I attend.

In fact, this is a topic that I often think about, and I shared my views on "centralization vs. decentralization" in a blog post in 2019. Three years on, little has changed in my perspective, but the addition of time has given me the opportunity to think further about this important topic with new depth and dimensions.Essentially, I think the first thing to understand is that decentralization is not binary, it's not one-dimensional,

Decentralization has multiple aspects, and each aspect has a gradual range, rather than a simple black and white.It is also important to remember that

Many people may disagree with the above statement, but I hope to explain further.

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What is decentralization?

You may hear people say "the keys are not yours, the coins are not yours" - these people tend to define decentralization as owning your own private keys. If so, TrustWallet (a Binance portfolio company) is decentralized while Binance.com is centralized. Well, that's an opinion too.

You may hear people say "too few nodes or validators, so you're centralized" - while fewer nodes or validators make the blockchain more centralized, we don't have an absolute number, and There's also no benchmark that everyone agrees on, so this number range should be gradual.

You may hear people say that "Bitcoin mining is too centralized because the top 2 or 3 mining pools control more than 51% of the network hashrate" - this is true, and often cited by those who support PoS Blockchain people use as an argument against Bitcoin.

You may hear people say "Ethereum is centralized because Vitalik Buterin can greatly influence the direction of Ethereum development." - this also makes sense, blockchain founders with a clear relationship have this "shortcoming". In contrast, Bitcoin is more decentralized in this regard.

No matter how "decentralized" Ethereum claims to be, it has forked several times.

BNB Chain is also often associated with me (CZ), but my involvement in the technical development of BNB Chain and its growing ecosystem is minimal. Similarly, the decentralization of BNB Chain is not absolute, but gradual.

I can go on and on... But in fact, I hope that you can see that there are many different aspects of decentralization. When talking about decentralization, you need to consider the scene environment and pay more attention to nuances, so I I hope everyone will look back and see if their understanding of the issue of "decentralization" is still binary.

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Why go to centralization?

We don't want a handful of centralized entities with unlimited power, charging us exorbitant fees, controlling how we spend our after-tax funds, etc. We want to empower everyone, control and freedom.

People want to transact freely, securely, easily, and cheaply.

Decentralization is a means to achieve the above goals, but it takes time, collaboration and trust of different groups.

Furthermore, we belong to a young industry and we are building the future every day.

A big step forward may not always yield the best results, but the work we do has to keep pace with the rest of the ecosystem.Keep Your Crypto #SAFU (CZ's Tips)》

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