Only Mastercoin funding is centralized, protocol itself isn't centralized.
This isn't the place to discuss Mastercoin, but it may be worth pointing out an important difference here between Mastercoin's protocol and Counterparty's: every Mastercoin transaction has to have a small output to the Exodus Address (to which at least J.R. holds the private key). Counterparty has no such limitation.
EDIT: typo
Q1. I know you said this isn't the place to discuss MSC, but is the above true? Do you mean every future MSC transaction, (even once it's up & running) will have a small output to the Exodus address? That sucks.
Yes, it is true.
Q2. As much as I like your POB decentralisation and I really do. Maintaining & further developing something like this will require serious funding? No? We can't expect you guys to do all the work when you're getting the same risk/reward incentive as us. Even Protoshares are now issuing Angel shares as they need more direct funding. (Or maybe they're just scamming, we'll have to see if they actually release their delayed Keyhotee soon.)
While we do appreciate donations, it may be worth pointing out that Bitcoin's development was not predicated on outside funding, and Counterparty is: 1) much simpler and smaller project than Bitcoin, and 2) relatively full-featured.
Most open-source projects are community-driven, with software developers contributing not primarily for the financial incentives, but because they really believe in the project they are developing (Gavin Andresen, for example, worked on Bitcoin a long time before being hired full-time). I will certainly be investing in Counterparty, but this is because I think it is a great project with lots of potential, not because there is a lot of money in alt-coins at the moment.
