Notes

  • “decentralization” is a term used super often in the crypto space, but is oftentimes misunderstood.
  • Most google searches lead us to conflicting StackExchange\Quora posts and refer to images like this one (which I’ve definitely seen myself):

Three “Axes” of Decentralization:

  • Architectural: how many physical computers make up the network? how many of those can it tolerate breaking down at a single time?
  • Political: how many individuals or organizations ultimately control that the system is made up of?
  • Logical: does the interfaces and data structures that the system presents look more like a monolithic object or an amorphous swarm?

One simple heuristic is: if you cut the system in half, including both providers and users, will both halves continue to fully operate as independent units?