All finance is centralized. De-centralized finance really doesn't exist --- crypto is just the latest example of this.
Before any crypto transaction who do the buyer and seller both turn to for a "fair market value" ? A *centralized* exchange.
The crypto market is controlled by companies like FTX. This still holds true even if you don't deal directly with these companies. Money equates to influence and control and crypto is no exception.
> Before any crypto transaction who do the buyer and seller both turn to for a "fair market value" ? A centralized exchange.
That's the simplest way today - but definitely not a requirement, and doesn't make it centralized in any way. The centralized exchanges don't set the price (if anything, they suggest it) and they can't control transactions nor wallets. Who doesn't know the private key can't do anything with the funds on a wallet.
> The crypto market is controlled by companies like FTX. This still holds true even if you deal directly with these companies.
The "crypto market" - maybe. But they don't control the cryptocurrencies themselves in any way. This is like saying that because NASDAQ controls the $MSFT market they control Microsoft - of course they don't.
Binance and Bitfinex have control over the one thing that matters most about Bitcoin --- the price. They exercise this control in the same way a central bank does --- they have access to an unlimited supply of "stablecoins" they can mint at will and use to buy/sell bitcoin as they see fit.
What matters the most is that nobody can take my coins from my wallet if I don't want them to and that I can send the coins to anybody I want, however much I want and whenever I want.
Really? So it doesn't matter that the bitcoins in your wallet are now worth about 1/4 of what they were a few months ago?
Where did all that value go? My guess is a lot of it is sitting in fiat bank accounts someplace under the control of Binance and Bitfinex.
The numbers in your wallet may be the same but 3/4's of the value has been removed. You've been robbed and you don't even know it.
No way to steal funds doing that, hmmm....
That's useful if you have crypto, but how do you get into the field in the first place? As long as people aren't being paid in crypto and can't buy and sell things in crypto there is no way to get into the system without going through someone willing to exchange crypto for fiat. And this someone tends to be a centralized exchange.
Yes, you can set your own asking price for crypto --- but the reality is it's unlikely you can sell for significantly more than the "market" price set by centralized exchanges. And good luck finding someone who will sell to you for significantly less.
Most people won't surrender value just for the sake of "decentralization".