Decentralization Challenges and Reflections

Recently, a notable market event has sparked heated discussions about Decentralization. In this event, a group of retail investors joined forces to take on large Wall Street institutions, resulting in a surge in the price of a certain stock and causing significant losses for short-sellers. However, the joy of victory for the retail investors was soon interrupted as the platform they relied on for communication was suddenly shut down, and some trading software restricted the buying of the related stocks.

This series of events not only highlights the fragility of the traditional financial system but also prompts people to rethink the importance of Decentralization. In this context, Bitcoin and Ethereum, as the two largest global Decentralization projects, offer people a new way to break free from third-party control.

However, even a highly decentralized network like Ethereum still faces some centralization risks. The most prominent of these is the over-reliance on a single infrastructure service provider. This provider handles billions of requests daily, offering developers a convenient way to connect to the Ethereum network without the need to run a full node. However, this convenience also brings potential risks, as the provider may become a single point of failure for the entire network.

What is more worrying is that many developers and users seem to be unaware of this risk or indifferent to it. They are accustomed to relying on this convenient service while neglecting the importance of running their own full nodes. This not only may lead to a decrease in the number of nodes supporting the network but also may bring privacy leakage risks.

As the Ethereum ecosystem continues to expand and Decentralization Finance (DeFi) flourishes, this issue becomes increasingly important. Although Ethereum developers are working hard to develop lightweight clients to reduce reliance on centralized services, most applications and users still heavily depend on these services.

The lesson we learn from this series of events is that when market interests are significant and the impact of games and regulation is substantial, we must be well-prepared for the worst-case scenario. This is not only a matter for Ethereum but for all Decentralization protocols that require serious consideration and in-depth research. This is especially important for teams developing applications on the Ethereum platform.

Decentralization is not only a technology but also a concept. It requires us to rethink the nature of trust and how to build systems without relying on centralized authorities. While complete decentralization may be a long process, every step is worth our contemplation and effort. Only in this way can we truly achieve a more open, fair, and robust financial and technological ecosystem.