Centralization of Bitcoin seems hard to avoid with how bitcoin mining works. Small companies are able to compete with larger cooperation due to faster decision making, patents on innovations, working climate, and so on. However, I see it very hard to get an edge as a smaller miner competing with larger mining operations, this should in theory make the network end up with only one or a few big miners.
Why would people trust these few operators to run the network, instead of for example big banks who issue their own "Bankcoin" on the bank's own servers? The "Bankcoin" could probably go mainstream quicker if trusted, since it would be able to be as fast and cheap as Bitcoin. If bitcoin becomes too centralized it should also become more easy to regulate, since only a few players control the network, this regulation would then probably effect both Bitcoin and "Bankcoin" in the same way, this could remove the price advantage of Bitcoin vs credit cards or "Bankcoin". "Bankcoin" should be able to implement other features that bitcoin has as well, for example the inflation and total amount.
What I mean by "Bankcoin" is a coin that is not linked to fiat currency, just in the same as bitcoin, the supply and demand sets the price. Bitcoin as a technology can maybe still have other uses, this is only about the currency.
I really want to believe in Bitcoin's future as a currency, but I can simply not figure this one out so I hope to get a good discussion about this issue!
If anyone has any desire to see the world take a giant leap forward, they must allow bitcoin to function in its original form. In its original form, all sort of advancements, efficiencies and other major techological good events will occur. The current monetary system is so beyond broken it can not be fixed, and to try and regulation bitcoin like the current system is just a waste of time. Just ban bitcoin completely or let it does what it is designed to do... Motheruckers!
