Ethereum

Claiming that "users don't care about abstract ideas like decentralization" is a little bit like claiming "users don't care about abstract ideas like property rights or the rule of law"

Only a bit. Property rights and the rule of law have direct and tangible effects on an individual's life. The benefits of decentralization tend to be second  or third order and consciously experienced by far fewer folks. I think we're at the point on the arc where we have to care because others don't know they should.

co-founder @chaindrop § software engineer § privacy wonk § music head § theoretical memeticist

Hundreds of millions of people rely on blockchains every day (if they hold assets, use it to transact, etc). The benefits of decentralization are very tangible for those people, no?

I think it's more the case that a lack of property rights / rule of law is anarchy & crime, which is clearly undesirable

Whereas a lack of decentralization is centralized services, which people have been using all this time with better overall UX (for now)

yup agree

>users for which there is no centralized alternative, like access to USD in some markets

I don't think the claim is these users don't care about decentralization though... it's the large number who already have good enough centralized alternatives.

Sometimes blockchains compete against centralized alternatives, but in other cases they open up entirely new things.

e.g. users for which there is no centralized alternative, like access to USD in some markets
e.g. crypto mcap itself reflects new & distinct asset class