I always assumed the majority of Bitcoin "owners" currently holds their Bitcoin on an exchange. If they move from largely unregulated companies registered in the Cayman Islands to regulated brokers in their own country, I consider that an improvement.
Which doesn't make it "OK", right?
Of course
But I trust my stock broker a lot more than, say, Binance. It depends on your threat level: if you fear your own government will take your money, then indeed storing your money at your local bank is a bad idea.
Not your keys, not your coins. The exchange, being a centralized entity, could decide not to give anyone their Bitcoins back
That's my point: a local bank can't do that without reason, and even if they do, at least I know who I'm dealing with. I wouldn't know who to call to send a lawyer after a guy named "CZ", who hides behind a shell company on the Caymen Islands.
AND users will be depending on their network for the safety and security of our property, like PayPal users.
I wish I could be my own stock broker, keeping shares at home without paying anyone "for safe keeping".
Therefore the question, how much of the total supply must be held in centralized vaults, under their control, before we can actually say that Bitcoin is failing? What is the threshold?
I'm like a broken record, asking this challenging question over and over again because all of the debates/discussions presented are mere unintentional-strawmen that's taking the topic out of context.
Unfortunately, I don't know. Most gold is stored in centralized locations, and I wouldn't call the gold market a failure.
If you Google how many people own Bitcoin, the answer varies but it's usually a couple hundred million. But there are only
48 million funded Bitcoin addresses, which means the large majority (thinks they) own Bitcoin on an exchange. It could very well be 80% already, which is the same percentage you mentioned in the OP.