Is web 3 truly decentralized?

There have been continuous arguments, discussions and write ups on whether web 3 is as decentralized as it claims where power is completely invested in the people and there is no regulatory power capable of sole decision making. However, this has not always been in operation, just recently Tornado Cash front end was shut down and Uniswap is even banning some of its users.

Web 3 claimed to provide users of the web with complete and independent power over their contents and assets but sometimes it feels like web 2 all over, but the other party in control is distant, hence the exercise of such power most times remotely or indirectly affect users.

Centralization being the order of the day before the development of web 3 makes it difficult for web 3 to play any role without any input from a centralized body or authority; most layer 1 protocols were initially funded by centralized companies to kickstart and iscurrently backing those protocols.

Ethereum founder, Vitalik Butterin refers to this as the “lazy centralization”, which is needed to build things in the web till in the future where it will be easier and cheaper to run programs on the blockchain.

The different aspects of web 3 have also continued to have one centralized factor or the other as well. The use of decentralized Apps by web 3 users is not completely run on the blockchain due to lagging and congestion. Only transaction request are sent to the blockchain, all other actions are directed to the website which is handled by the team; a centralized corporation.

Also, Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) which are meant to be in charge of decision making process are often abused and centralized. Decision making is majorly carried out by voting, this is done with the native token of the project. It is easy for a group of wealthy people with more tokens to monopolize decision making, more token equals more voting power. Although the new concept of metagovernance aims to eliminate this, but that is not without its own demerits.

Big players in the web are all centralized entities as well, Coinbase, Binance, FTX etc. While they may be operating in a decentralized system, their structure and governance are still very much centralized. Many have also argued that web 3 is not completely permissionless where parties still need to make use of Application Programming Interfaces(APIs) to make any form of actions or interactions hence there is still the need for one other party asides contracting parties.

Is decentralization even possible?

The reality of web 3 almost seem like it needs some sort of centralization to perform or operate. This has been a major point for critics of web 3 who identifies web 3 as simply a buzzword, stating centralization cannot be completely eradicated.

The founder of the Solana blockchain after been constantly criticized for the nakomoto consensus adopted which allows about 33% of the total stake concentrated in the hands of the top 30 validators as against the tenets of decentralization, Anatoly has come out to state that this is the only means through which the goal of Solana can be reached which is to be the fastest network.

This revelation might just be another point to the critics. Creator of Signal, Mathew Rosenfield better known as Marlinspike, a critic of the decentralization theory stated that centralization might be a good thing for the web. He went further to say centralization, “… has about zero negativity felt effect on the velocity of the ecosystem and….most participants don’t even know or care it is happening”.

The goal of web 3 seems to be complete decentralization in the long run, but there might be a need for some centralization to achieve that. Critics of web 3 or complete decentralization are of the belief that centralization cannot be completely eradicated as it has proven to be more efficient hence the reasons for still having some centralized aspects of the web despite being against its mantra.

Whether complete decentralization or minimal centralization is the way forward for web 3 is still a little bit of a blur since the concept is relatively new and still going through lot of research. However, web 3 has provided to a reasonable degree, a system whereby users have the freedom to make transactions and operate without regulations or undue interference. The adoption of web 3 continues to infiltrate various sectors and organizations regardless of the centralization factor that hovers around it.

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