I feel like the real appeal of Bitcoin is the decentralized aspect. I am not totally intrigued at the idea of having a controlled system, even if it offers complete privacy and faster transaction speed.
But with Stellar or something based on its consensus protocol, you can run your own node if you want, or more likely, a bunch of public nodes can exist and you can pick the one you trust to work with. For example, if banks decide to start working with MobileCoin, then Chase could offer a node and, as a Chase customer, you could decide to trust their node (since you already trust them to manage your money) and use that one.
Still not getting it. If I don't trust CoinBase, I can go to any other online wallet that manages my private keys. With some effort, I can even start one myself. If Chase is running such a wallet, I can use them.
How is a decentralized protocol not a superset of a "federated" one?