Bitcoin is extremely difficult to understand because it is a combination of monetary theory, computer science, network technology, cryptography, game theory, economic theory. I personally do not fully understand it, I have been reading for a long time and I do not understand it again. Bitcoin is a very difficult digestion pill. It is very difficult for most people to accept the anxieties and lack of leaders, presidents, and ministers. At an event on the block technology, someone asked: "Where is the seat of a Bitcoin?" Many people think that regulation will somehow affect the technology. Such a thing can not happen. It does not matter what the legislator thinks of gravity. As before, it did not matter what the church thinks about the layout of the planets in the solar system, then they killed people who were engaged in science (check the history and work of Jordano Bruno).
If the division of the legislative, executive and judicial authorities is the prior decentralization, the current balance of power in Bitcoin is such:
Developers
These are the people who support the Bitcoin by offering suggestions for improvements. Types of suggestions are different, here are some:
Those who change the consensus mechanism (the process of determining what is true). One way is a soft fork, the other is a hard fork. With a soft fork, the rules change, while respecting the old rules. Ie. blocks that do not accept the new rules may also be valid. For example, from an address without an activated stand-alone witness, you can still use the network again. The fork is a complete manipulation of the consensus mechanism. Ie. in this case, any previous version is no longer valid. For this reason, it is not good to make rigid forks, as they violate the overall security and basics of the protocol. The fork leads to network separation if there is no 100% consensus.
There are also changes that do not affect the consensus mechanism. These are changes that add functionality and enhance optimization. For example, the latest version 0.15.1, one of the things that improve is the speed of downloading the entire chain (we're now hours, not weeks).
Miners
Miners are the people who secure the network with their computer capabilities through PoW. Miners hash blocks and tie them to the chain on a mathematical basis. Blocks contain the exchange between people across the chain. Miners can also be added to the miners as a faction.
Miners accept new block transactions, crash them and scan through the nonce-a value (https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Nonce) to meet the requirements of Proof of Work. Then they distribute the block to each node and the new block is added to the chain (if it is valid). The first transaction in the block emits new Bitcoin, they are the miners' prize found along with the transaction fees.
Wallets
The wallet is the software by which one manages his keys. There is no Bitcoin in the wallets, there are only keys that prove the ownership of a certain Bitcoin. Each grain has a seed, a public key is generated, and an address is generated from the public key. The seed must be kept by each owner of the Bitcoin, as well as the private key derived from it.
Nodes
Are like independent accountants who check that everything goes according to consensual rules. When a node perceives a block as valid, it passes it over to the others who do the same. Nodes validate network transactions and verify that block construction is by policy. Maintaining a node brings more security to people who have a Bitcoin, as well as financial freedom and independence.Bitcoin original goal is not to trust anyone, so you check every block.
Consumers
Users are a collection of holders, traders, and users of the Transaction Network. This is a hard-to-define group, as each perceives the network differently. Some hold coins because monetary policy is such that they constantly value. Others are actively trading against other cryptocurrencies or government debt papers.
Peripheral businesses
Peripheral businesses are mostly exchange offices, exchanges, payment processors, and so on. These businesses help access and use the network. They help to buy and sell coins, mitigate the risk of volatility, and so on. Peripheral businesses can also be considered as consumers, as they basically use the network.
All these actors succeed together because the balance of interest mechanism is a genius (without exaggeration).
What is happening at the moment?
At the moment, part of the peripheral businesses alongside the miners are trying to impose control over the network. These are extremely powerful players with a lot of power and hardware power. Since the technology is neutral I think they will not succeed and in the long run will lose.
Such processes have occurred at the dawn of the Internet. If the debates in our group have grown stronger, keep in mind that at the time there was even a fight in connection with the protocol development of the Internet, and it was not even money
Why are big miners and peripheral businesses having a problem with Bitcoin?
The protocol is increasingly focusing on greater decentralization, and peripheral businesses and miners represent the centralized management model, and this is a threat to them.
The desire of businesses is to turn Bitcoin into a trust system to use their services (to protect our coins), which contradicts the aims and ideals of Bitcoin - financial sovereignty.
Miners on the other hand also have no interest in the decentralized direction of development as the Lightning network will reduce their profitability from transactions on the mainstream. Personally, in my opinion, it will not reduce their profitability if all the updates on which work is done, the cost of the Bitcoin will increase many times, as in addition to a value network, the network can be used to create different types of applications.
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