Centralised

Centralised refers to a system, organization, or network where control, decision-making authority, and operational power are concentrated in a single entity, small group, or central authority rather than distributed across participants. In the context of Web3 and blockchain, centralization is often presented as the opposite of decentralization, where power imbalances can limit transparency, increase censorship risk, and create single points of failure. Traditional financial institutions, major corporations, and many cryptocurrency exchanges operate with centralized structures, whereas blockchain technology theoretically enables more distributed models of governance and control. Example: Bitcoin was created partly as a response to centralized banking systems that controlled monetary policy, offering a peer-to-peer alternative where no single central bank manages the network. Why it matters for Web3: Understanding centralization is crucial for evaluating projects, as decentralization claims are central to Web3's value proposition, but many platforms retain significant centralized control despite decentralization rhetoric.

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