Decentralization Struggles
Most early experiments with digital gold/cash were set up around centralized models whereby a single authority was responsible for issuance, validation, and control. This made sense at the time when most online services were working with a centralized infrastructure. The level of centralization gave such systems room for shutdowns, censorships, and manipulations. If the central authority was to collapse-or, much worse, turn against the network-it would be compromised. These possibilities drew several interests toward their antithesis, one that would beat the heart of future financial systems: decentralization.