Every networked system (eth, btc, usd, the internet itself, trade, an economy) has aspects of centralization and decentralization. USD is decentralized in that if enough people stopped attesting to its value or accepting it for trade, the whole thing folds. That doesn't happen precisely because so many people believe in its value. But many aspects of USD and the banking system are opaque: how it is minted, what players are trusted, how much fractional reserve is allowed, etc.
The big difference is how easy it is to step into the game. I'd probably need millions of dollars, oodles of lawyer-hours, a bunch of employees, and a mountain of paperwork, to start a bank and participate in the banking system as a peer. I just need 32Eth (roughly $50kUSD) and some computers to participate as a validator.
The hard fork only "worked" cause enough people went with it. If enough people said "f it, no fork", then the fork still happens, but loses the social capital and thus the old chain "wins".
The internet struggles with ipv6 because not enough nodes support it. Politics breaks down when parties can't reach agreement. I don't know of any system which is truly tolerant to byzantine / 51% attacks.
The big difference is how easy it is to step into the game. I'd probably need millions of dollars, oodles of lawyer-hours, a bunch of employees, and a mountain of paperwork, to start a bank and participate in the banking system as a peer. I just need 32Eth (roughly $50kUSD) and some computers to participate as a validator.
The hard fork only "worked" cause enough people went with it. If enough people said "f it, no fork", then the fork still happens, but loses the social capital and thus the old chain "wins".
The internet struggles with ipv6 because not enough nodes support it. Politics breaks down when parties can't reach agreement. I don't know of any system which is truly tolerant to byzantine / 51% attacks.