User:Dattabase08/Bitcoin

Decentralization
As of 2013 just six mining pools controlled 75% of overall bitcoin hashing power. In 2014 mining pool Ghash.io obtained 51% hashing power which raised significant controversies about the safety of the network. The pool has voluntarily capped their hashing power at 39.99% and requested other pools to act responsibly for the benefit of the whole network. Around the year 2017, over 70% of the hashing power and 90% of transactions were operating from China. Decentralization's legal significance was highlighted a few years ago when securities authorities stated that bitcoin and ether aren't subject to securities law in part because the networks on which they function are sufficiently decentralized. In another manner, the battle to find the right balance between centralization and decentralization is at play. Some US government officials are envious of China's decision to develop its own Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), a digital equivalent of the yuan, which they believe the US should do as well.