Decentralization also needs centralization to some extent

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Avatar for bala41288
2 years ago

We are taking decentralization as one of the biggest advantages in the web3 or blockchain world. I wouldn't say that we have to completely get rid of centralization. Even though decentralization is good, I would say that we also need a good amount of centralization to keep things organized as not everything can be programmed with the help of smart contracts. In this article, I would like to highlight some of the points that explain why centralization to some extent is necessary. The centralization need not necessarily be from just one individual but at least a group of individuals for safety and security reasons as well.

Everybody expects a leader

This usually happens in community initiatives and projects that need someone to lead. There is always a need for a good leader to lead the people belonging to a certain group or community. If there are no leaders, there will be no one to take up initiatives and everyone will be pointing fingers towards each other to get things done. Like how this doesn't work in the FIAT world, in the crypto world too it wouldn't work. The leader need not necessarily be the founder but can be someone with more knowledge on how the community works and also guides others who are new to the community or group.

Source

By nature, there are some people who cannot work independently and they always seek assistance from others or from someone who can give them instructions. For those people hearing information from one authorized person is more convincing than finding it by themselves or exploring, reading, and understanding.

Decentralized trust

Even if we build trust in someone and follow their footprints, it shouldn't be like they are going to be the trustable person forever. We should be able to switch our trust on someone else as well. The systems and dApps that we are building should be able to accommodate that. We should be able to switch the trust from one person to another person without disturbing the asset we hold or its value.

A simple example that I can give is that I trust someone's voting patten and I join their curation trail. I know for sure that they vote only on quality posts. By joining the trail I can be assured that my votes also go to quality posts. This looks more like a small centralization inside decentralization because the person whom I'm trailing decides who should be voted and which posts should be rewarded. But the freedom we have here is to stop following the person's trail at any time and switch to a different trail.

But this small trust-based centralization is important for leading people towards a good cause.

A decentralized leader group

Even if the leader is taken out of the picture, the community should still be able to function without him in a decentralized manner. Or in other words, someone else should be able to take up a position as the decentralized leader. The role of these decentralized leaders is to take initiatives for the growth of the community and not take control of the community. Here is where a group of leaders comes into the picture. Instead of just having only one person as the leader, a group of people who align with the vision and mission can be part of the group to make decisions on behalf of the bigger crowd.

Source

Hive ecosystem has a good example of this. We have a list of 20 top witnesses who basically act like leaders and they make sure the chain is going smooth. People vote for individual leaders who share the same thoughts as them. There is a small centralization here but when looking at the big picture this is highly necessary and the government is also under the control of the community as people vote and elect people as top witnesses.


If you like what I'm doing on Hive, you can vote me as a witness with the links below.

Vote @balaz as a Hive Witness
Vote @kanibot as a Hive Engine Witness



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Avatar for bala41288
2 years ago

Comments

It's good to have a decentralized especially when it comes to prices of crypto.

$ 0.00
2 years ago

Decentralization is very good when it comes to the financial market, but when it comes to life in society, centralization is essential for maintaining order and peace. Congratulations on the article!

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2 years ago