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What is decentralization?
Look beyond machine counts to authority, rules and user choice.
Imagine an application with one server in each of ten cities, all controlled by the same administrator. Replication may help it survive a machine failure. The administrator may still have permission to disable every account. Both can be true.
Section 2 of RFC 9518 distinguishes technical failure points from concentrated control. Start by identifying the layer under discussion.
Examine one application layer by layer
This is an exercise developed for this lesson, not an RFC scoring standard.
| Layer | Question | Evidence to examine |
|---|---|---|
| Operation | Can the service survive a machine or hosting provider leaving? | Failure drills and deployment dependencies |
| Authority | Who can freeze accounts, alter records or upgrade software? | Administrative permissions, keys and upgrade rules |
| Protocol | Can others implement compatible clients or services? | Public specifications and interoperability tests |
| User choice | Which identities, records and relationships survive a move? | An actual migration, not merely an export button |
Do not add these rows into a universal decentralization percentage. Operation can be distributed while upgrade authority remains concentrated. Preserve that distinction in the assessment.
Agreement on a chain does not distribute every kind of control
Consensus helps participants agree on state. It does not by itself answer who hosts the application, what administrators can do, or whether users can change services. Examine dApps layer by layer; using a DID also leaves method and service dependencies to examine.
ArcBlock's 2019 article discusses decentralization at different layers and connects it to user control. Read it as historical reasoning, not as a current implementation specification or an endorsement of every historical technical claim.
Sources and next step
- Mark Nottingham · RFC 9518, Section 2: published December 2023 as an Independent Submission, Informational RFC. It represents the author's views, not IETF consensus.
- ArcBlock · Decentralization demystified (2019, Chinese)
- Continue with Does coordination require centralized control?
Check your understanding
Do more nodes always mean more decentralization?
No. Node counts cannot substitute for examining control and dependencies.
Referenced here
Terms
- Blockchain
A distributed ledger that links records cryptographically and uses shared validation and consensus rules to establish an accepted transaction history.
- Decentralization
Not one property but a question asked per part: who can change this, who can withhold it, and who can check it afterwards. A system is usually decentralized in some of its parts and not others.