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Topic: Why use decentralized bitcoin in a centralized way? - page 3. (Read 623 times)

legendary
Activity: 3248
Merit: 1402
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The op poses a valid and relevant question. Bitcoin is meant to be used in a decentralized way, but of course people have the freedom to turn to centralized solutions as well. Some use them because of lack of knowledge about noncustodial wallets. Others are interested in Bitcoin as an investment asset, so they don't really care about the ideas behind it. Also, there are those using exchanges or custodial wallets out of convenience, especially if they make a lot of transactions regularly.
hero member
Activity: 910
Merit: 680
In the early days of Bitcoin, I think some users were really up to keep Bitcoin as decentralized as possible. They seems to be outnumbered already and some are just shying away because users are becoming used to the centralization.

Maybe because the idea that Bitcoin will not grow with out the regulation of the government so we gradually get used to KYC already, we are now INSTITUTIONALIZED.  Grin
People who're using Bitcoin in decentralized way are privacy oriented or value security over money, so they won't shift to centralized way. It just new people who interested with Bitcoin tend to choose centralized way since they lack of knowledge or they're money oriented person.

Nope, the idea of Bitcoin will still grow, no matter how strict is the regulation, there's always a way to get rid from centralization, check kycnot.me there are many no KYC sites.
legendary
Activity: 994
Merit: 1089
Isn't running a bitcoin node time consuming? For someone who just wants to Be his own bank, can owning a non-custodial wallet alone serve same purpose?
Running a full node is great, but you can be your own bank without it. Running a full node gives you better privacy and security as you can verify everything locally, and you do not depend on third party nodes, it also means you are contributing to the security of the network. However, you can also run a pruned node, which would reduce the resources you have to spend.

You simply have to avoid custodial services to be your own bank, and also use self custodial wallets and p2p exchanges. That way you always have your own seed phrase and in total control of your funds.
member
Activity: 108
Merit: 34
From my research recently, I have come to realize that a lot of bitcoin users are still stuck with the traditional idea of saving money with a central authority. Importing this idea to a decentralized Bitcoin, has led to the invention of bitcoin banks, exchanges and custodial wallets. Now, as the day passes, more bitcoiners are becoming centralized.  Is there a club or group of only people who uses bitcoin the Satoshi way, I will like to belong here.

I do not want to use bitcoin the centralized way, I want to have total control of my coins and be my own bank. Is this difficult to achieve? Are there prices I have to pay or is everyone eventually moving to the centralized way?

Consider people who used Bitcoin in centralized platforms as lazy and ignorant users. Bitcoin itself is a freedom but people leave the freedom behind and chose after the value it add to them and as long money is made, they be like "who cares"?

The fact that the rest chose to ignore decentralization, that's there problem, you can choose your own way, run your own Bitcoin node, buy a hardware wallet and be your own bank and support the network by running the node 24/7, you are adding value to the network and those who chose to use the centralized entities can continue to hide their password from a place they don't even own the private keys.

I think I agree with your first paragraph. Bitcoin's value appreciates over time and many are just too comfortable with the fact that bitcoin can be profitable, nothing else matters.

Isn't running a bitcoin node time consuming? For someone who just wants to Be his own bank, can owning a non-custodial wallet alone serve same purpose?
hero member
Activity: 882
Merit: 792
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Pardon me if I am digressing, I am still in the learning process.
I have been reading about  Bitcoin since i joined this forum. I learnt that decentralization is a unique attribute of Bitcoin. And this attribute permits bitcoin users to have total control over their money and be their own banks.

From my research recently, I have come to realize that a lot of bitcoin users are still stuck with the traditional idea of saving money with a central authority. Importing this idea to a decentralized Bitcoin, has led to the invention of bitcoin banks, exchanges and custodial wallets. Now, as the day passes, more bitcoiners are becoming centralized.  Is there a club or group of only people who uses bitcoin the Satoshi way, I will like to belong here.

I do not want to use bitcoin the centralized way, I want to have total control of my coins and be my own bank. Is this difficult to achieve? Are there prices I have to pay or is everyone eventually moving to the centralized way?
This is a very good post and I am glad there is a person who wants to use bitcoin in a classic way.
The answer to your question is that it's getting hard every day to be your own bank and keep privacy when using Bitcoin.

The first step is to buy an air-gapped hardware wallet, like Coldcard and Passport, then create a Bitcoin address and save seed phrases safely. If you want to buy Bitcoin, you better use decentralized exchange to keep your privacy more likely protected. Always try to use kyc-free services. This way, you'll be your own bank and you'll protect your privacy.

By the way, there is a price that you'll have to take and that's responsibility. When you have a total control, you also have the whole responsibility on your shoulders!
hero member
Activity: 896
Merit: 654
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I do not want to use bitcoin the centralized way, I want to have total control of my coins and be my own bank. Is this difficult to achieve? Are there prices I have to pay or is everyone eventually moving to the centralized way?
This is your choice, my friend, no one is forcing you in any way. The situation where the decentralised Bitcoin can be used in a centralised way is to be using it through the arrangements of centralised establishments. The good news is that such can be avoided by strictly buying and holding, or selling your Bitcoin through a decentralised system and self-custory wallets. This is not a hard thing to do, you may Google them and you will be fetched with a lot of ideas and advice on how you can go about them.

As for those who are using the coin in a centralised way, well, I am one of them and you can't blame us for that. First, I have nothing to hide, second, the centralised system makes my Bitcoin management more dynamic. I can stake, trade, swap coins/tokens and do all kinds of business easily and cheaply with such an arrangement, which makes it better for me even as I also have some self-custody keeping, just to be safer.
hero member
Activity: 812
Merit: 619
There is no specific group you need to join or pay any money to use Bitcoin in a decentralized manner, all you need to do is find the right wallet and use that to hold and use your Bitcoin. The wallet should be a non-custodial one such as Electrum so that you can be the only one having access to your funds and there are no third parties involved. If you want more security for your coins, you should go for a hardware wallet because they tend to be safer than online wallets.

Choosing custodial wallets or centralized exchange platforms to keep your funds is a choice that some people make. They either don't know how to use a non-custodial wallet or they trust those wallets and exchanges too much that they feel completely safe when their coins or assets are stored with them, however, it isn't considered to be very safe for several reasons including hacks and exploits.
hero member
Activity: 3038
Merit: 617

In the early days of Bitcoin, I think some users were really up to keep Bitcoin as decentralized as possible. They seems to be outnumbered already and some are just shying away because users are becoming used to the centralization.

Maybe because the idea that Bitcoin will not grow with out the regulation of the government so we gradually get used to KYC already, we are now INSTITUTIONALIZED.  Grin
hero member
Activity: 1316
Merit: 787
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-snip-

I do not want to use bitcoin the centralized way, I want to have total control of my coins and be my own bank. Is this difficult to achieve? Are there prices I have to pay or is everyone eventually moving to the centralized way?
Choosing to use Bitcoin means we want freedom over our money.
The freedom we get because we are in full control has its unique nature, so its use is very different from other payment systems.
The use of Bitcoin can also be used as an investment if the user desires this.

It's not difficult to achieve it. To do this, you prepare a wallet and get a public address as an address for receiving and sending. Then save the private key or seed phrase properly and make sure it is stored offline. Be careful in public spaces.

Keep learning about Bitcoin. We fully support your efforts.
legendary
Activity: 2310
Merit: 4085
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Decentralization has privacy at its core. I am sure people who use or hold bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies in decentralized platforms are very appreciative of their privacy so I don’t think you’ll find an exclusive platform just for them. Many of them wouldn’t even let you know that they in fact hold some bitcoin.
Bitcoin is a public blockchain with a public ledger so that everyone can check past blocks and transactions. It is not a private blockchain like Monero and there is no absolute privacy with Bitcoin blockchain.

The advantage is if you use a non custodial, open source wallets to create your wallet, offline, and don't share your public address anywhere else especially on Internet, nobody will know that you are owner of that address and nobody will know you own bitcoin.

It's very first step to gain privacy but next steps will be achieved by how you use UTXOs as inputs for sending transactions out and whether you use Coin control feature and changed addresses for receiving bitcoins from senders. It's a complicated procedure to secure your privacy and along the way, if you make mistakes, your privacy will be broken.

How to spend specific UTXOs in Electrum wallet
full member
Activity: 2520
Merit: 214
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Decentralization has privacy at its core. I am sure people who use or hold bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies in decentralized platforms are very appreciative of their privacy so I don’t think you’ll find an exclusive platform just for them. Many of them wouldn’t even let you know that they in fact hold some bitcoin.

Nevertheless, if you prefer decentralized platforms there’s no need to ask other people about it or try to pursue others. I’ve always thought investing as a subjective approach which is why we should always be making decisions for ourselves.
legendary
Activity: 1064
Merit: 1101
Pardon me if I am digressing, I am still in the learning process.
I have been reading about  Bitcoin since i joined this forum. I learnt that decentralization is a unique attribute of Bitcoin. And this attribute permits bitcoin users to have total control over their money and be their own banks.

From my research recently, I have come to realize that a lot of bitcoin users are still stuck with the traditional idea of saving money with a central authority. Importing this idea to a decentralized Bitcoin, has led to the invention of bitcoin banks, exchanges and custodial wallets. Now, as the day passes, more bitcoiners are becoming centralized.

These centralized platforms make Bitcoin transactions convenient that's why people use them. In some areas, one might not find a reliable decentralized P2P platform that makes these exchanges important. People are also attracted to these centralized platforms because they invest money do a lot of advertisements. Some people don't even know much about decentralized wallets because they believe that these exchanges are the only means of hodling or trading Bitcoin.

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Is there a club or group of only people who use bitcoin the Satoshi way, I will like to belong here.

I do not want to use bitcoin the centralized way, I want to have total control of my coins and be my own bank. Is this difficult to achieve? Are there prices I have to pay or is everyone eventually moving to the centralized way?

Bitcoin promotes privacy so you might not find a club or organization where only decentralization maximalists converge. But you can locate such people in the forum who share the same ideology. Some members have never done KYC in any exchange because they have devised means of exchanging their coins. In this era where the government is enforcing KYC in almost all crypto-related service providers, it will be hard to avoid this centralized platform. But there are still some decentralized exchanges like Bisq that can help you achieve your goal.
sr. member
Activity: 1610
Merit: 301
*STOP NOWHERE*
Stop caring about how other people use bitcoin, where they store it, and what they use it for...because everyone uses it differently. You just need to use bitcoin the way you think is best for you, that's all.

We all know that bitcoin is decentralized and it is not owned by any individual and Bitcoin is for everyone. So why do we spend time caring about how other people use bitcoin, why criticize them if they don't use bitcoin like us, what right do we have to do that? It's their bitcoin, let them use it their way, and we just use it our way.
sr. member
Activity: 420
Merit: 253
A lot of people have different purposes of owning Bitcoin, some want to accumulate and convert to fiat, while some want acquire it and hold as many as they can and possibly use it as a medium of exchange in the future when Bitcoin must have possibly been adopted by a lot of people whereby you can transact with one another without congestion in mempool or high transactions fee.

Though the main reasons for inventing Bitcoin is to stand as a decentralized medium of digital transactions without interference from the government banks and other third party companies but however, you can't control the choices of everyone. Everyone is entitled to what/how they want to go about with their Bitcoins.
hero member
Activity: 2366
Merit: 838
I learnt that decentralization is a unique attribute of Bitcoin. And this attribute permits bitcoin users to have total control over their money and be their own banks.
Decentralization of Bitcoin has nothing to do with control or non-control of bitcoins for Bitcoin holders. It more relates to private keys/ mnemonic seeds.

If people use good wallet softwares, to create their wallets and by this get private keys, they will have control of their coins. If they use bad wallet softwares or use online accounts to store their bitcoins but don't have access and control of private keys, they don't actually control their coins.

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From my research recently, I have come to realize that a lot of bitcoin users are still stuck with the traditional idea of saving money with a central authority. Importing this idea to a decentralized Bitcoin, has led to the invention of bitcoin banks, exchanges and custodial wallets.
Centralized platforms are built and provided for people who want convenience and don't want to learn basics to secure their money better. There are always people who want to get convenience and forget or don't care about security and safety.

But safety, security should be first considerations for all.

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Now, as the day passes, more bitcoiners are becoming centralized.
I believe you only thought the fact is like this, believed it like this and I believe you did not write it base on any on chain information.
hero member
Activity: 3192
Merit: 939
The people are using centralized crypto exchanges mostly because it's convenient. Actually the crypto day traders are the main customers of crypto exchanges. If you aren't a day trader, there's no point to use such service. I don't care about altcoins, so I haven't used a crypto exchange in the last 2 or 3 years.
If you have small amounts of BTC, just setup Electrum wallet on your PC. If you have big amounts of BTC, just buy Trezor or Ledger.
Nobody is forcing you to use centralized services, but buying BTC from a centralized crypto company is a little bit more convenient than dealing with strangers on the P2P crypto markets.
hero member
Activity: 742
Merit: 633
I do not want to use bitcoin the centralized way, I want to have total control of my coins and be my own bank. Is this difficult to achieve? Are there prices I have to pay or is everyone eventually moving to the centralized way?
Is it only you or you're also forcing other people to use Bitcoin in decentralized way? if it's only you, sure you can do anything that you want. But if you're forcing other people to follow what you do, it will drain your life since each person has it's own need.

The reason why most people choose to use decentralized exchange is the trading fees is cheap, you only need to pay 0.1% in centralized exchange, but you need to pay miner fees when you trade in decentralized exchange which cost around $0.5 or more.

The prices to pay people to use decentralized exchange is the money, they don't want to lose their money due to miner fees.

full member
Activity: 2254
Merit: 188
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I think, everybody have their own different ways of holding Bitcoin to ensure they are making progress in the industry, but those countries that made Bitcoin legal tender use Bitcoin in a decentralized way, because their government is not against it. But if your government is against using Bitcoin in a decentralized way, it will make you to lose all your Bitcoin when they find out that you are using Bitcoin in a decentralized way which is against the law of the country.  Since Bitcoin is not yet legalize in my country, I use Bitcoin in a Centralized way by converting my Bitcoin into fiat money before I will be able to purchase what I want in the country because Bitcoin is not a legal tender in my country for Bitcoin users to use it in a decentralized way.
sr. member
Activity: 2618
Merit: 439
Is there a club or group of only people who uses bitcoin the Satoshi way, I will like to belong here.
Are you actually hoping to find one? Because there are multiple platforms that talk about bitcoin just like this forum for example. But there’s no clear separation between those who use centralized exchanges or wallets between those who use decentralized exchanges or wallets. It’s just all a matter of preference and there’s no judgement between others since we all need and want different things.
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I do not want to use bitcoin the centralized way, I want to have total control of my coins and be my own bank. Is this difficult to achieve? Are there prices I have to pay or is everyone eventually moving to the centralized way?
Nope. lots of us still think that decentralization is something that is offered and thus shall be taken. However these times, the government is keen on observing bitcoin and trying to make it as centralized as possible
legendary
Activity: 3038
Merit: 4418
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There is an assumption that Bitcoiners wants decentralization. That is false, most of them are in it for the money unfortunately. When you're in it for the gains, you think less about the other intrinsic benefits that Bitcoin offers.

Pin this on the centralized services because that is the first point of contact for many and they stop right there. If you truly want them to take control of their own funds, we have to abandon the regulations and the licensed exchange and services. We all know that is not happening anytime soon.
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