Satoshi Nakamoto's decentralized Bitcoin is shaping up to be like a modern Fort Knox. There's been a lot of skepticism about how big corporations are currently managing Bitcoin. We all know the max supply is capped at 21 million coins, and if 51% of that gets concentrated in the hands of a few, they can pretty much control it. The way companies like Black Rock, MicroStrategy, Fidelity, and Coinbase Prime are storing Bitcoin with third parties or custodians is a real threat to its decentralization. Plus, the government's plan to create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve raises concerns about tighter control.
Bitcoin expert Jameson Lopp has been vocal about the risks of storing Bitcoin with third-party custodians from these big firms. A report from Architect Partners showed an increase in concentration within the Bitcoin mining space after the last halving. Another worry is that because of this centralization in mining, transaction confirmations can stretch to 5 or 6 days, which creates uncertainty for users. So, with government oversight of the Bitcoin held by these major institutions and the establishment of a government Bitcoin reserve, we might be heading toward a more centralized scenario. What do you guys think about all this?
What do you mean 5 to 6 days confirmations, we have gotten over the BRC20 attacks from last year and up to January if I recall it correctly. Look at mempool today, it's empty:
https://mempool.space/
So please, before understand what confirmation time is. As for the concentration of Bitcoin? Yeah, it's obvious that big mining companies have huge amount of Bitcoin, but in order for their operation to continue at some point they will have to sell. So it's not like they are going to be a big and long term holder.
Each one of us are holders, that's why we call it BYOB (Be your Own Bank), you have total control of your assets, you have the private key and you have the duty to protect it at all cost. So there are no centralized situation here, as you have the options not to put like in exchange wherein you don't have the control.
Bitcoin doesn't takes days for confirmation rather it would take few seconds for confirming to your address or wallet. However, Bitcoin has come to redefined and redesigned the financial industry where everyone is now using it as an investment tools, while from it's creation it wasn't originally meant for that rather a tools for quick and faster transaction and of course people are now using it as a strategic reserve funds for countries and institutions.
However, the supply today could caused a serious scarcity and want where institutions and government are holding large numbers of Bitcoin in their possession, this could stir up the price and making it more difficult for an average person to accumulate.
Despite the whole Bitcoin ETF thing going around and alot of government and big institutions are buying into Bitcoin ETF it won't have any effect on the Bitcoin control as long as Bitcoin remains on it current network which is proof of work it which makes and keeps the network decentralized and away from government or big whale control based on their available liquidity, if it Ethereum that runs in proof of Stake we should have been worried of total control but with Bitcoin we still hold all the control as long as we keep our Bitcoin on a self custody wallets.
One thing I know for sure is that these corporations will not continue to hold bitcoin for life, they will eventually sell and some will be buying, which alone is enough in keeping the market more volatile and speculative, because it's value will appreciate after a fall.
One thing I will also appreciate about bitcoin is the freedom of each everyone of us selling or buying at a desiring rate, this makes it more difficult to engulf us under a centralized economy, as you can't choose to buy an asset and continue in holding it down with your own money until it's done completely, this is impossible.
I thought you are going to tell us that Bitcoin will disappear too and couldn't be traced like the gold in Fort Knox. But its possible especially if the coins are held by the 3rd parties. However there is no way a government official can hold BTC in their own wallet as well. It has to be in the 3rd party for there is the need for auditing.
But its true though that centralization is coming. The institutions does the trick, will circle everything to get a hold of its control.
No - control of the Bitcoin network doesnt happen simply by owning 51% or
more of the amount of previously mined Bitcoin.
Is there a link to this article?
You may be quoting two separate issues...
Security of third party wallets and the possibility of a 51% attack.
The possibility of a 51% attack is more a theoretically one than an actual one.
The cost alone of controlling 51% of the network makes almost impossible.
There are more than a handfull of powerful mining companies all competing against
each other, there isnt just 1 giant able to swallow up enough minnows to form 51%
When Bitcoin or any coin is on the possession of someone else it has every possibility of disappearing because there wouldn't be a held back distortion to the person because all necessary information would have been with the person so actually when a lot of people loss from this way they began to think that Bitcoin has a disappearing potential without knowing they made the disappearing possible for the person they gave there wallet to hold. Meanwhile in some other way I think government officials can still have Bitcoin even if there might be an auditing on them because the auditing mostly results of all the money on there bank account but they cannot be searching there smartphones to see what they have inside.
That's why there's a need for consumption. Usage of the money. Bitcoin is money.
This way, even if the large companies and the reserves are holding a lot of Bitcoin, there's still a circulating supply out in the public. $21 million is actually not enough, but when its value grows due to usage and lack of supply, even if we are just holding 1000 satoshis, it will still have a value that can be used for buying what we need.
Honestly, I also don't like that big companies are holding way too much of the Bitcoin supply because manipulation could happen, but I still believe that we are in the baby steps of what Bitcoin can really do in the future. So many things could happen.
Even if 51% of total supply goes to institutional they won't control the blockchain, it's the hashrate that matters for 51% attack.
For the second paragraph, concentration of hashrate is normal as long as it doesn't reach anywhere close to 51%. You are free to mine as well to improve the decentralization. Anyone can literally mine now.
I'm sure as the adoption increase the hashrate distribution will also increase. There are many countries proposing to open crypto mining already. The 5-6 days confirmation is utter BS.