Most people think Bitcoin governance is decentralized. It’s not.
Here's the uncomfortable truth:
You don’t need 51% of miners to change Bitcoin.
You just need 5 Core maintainers and a network of node operators who click “update” without reading.
That’s not decentralization.
That’s blind trust in a gatekeeping elite.
Here is how.
Bitcoin's 51% hashpower rule protects against double-spends, not protocol changes.
Changing the rules requires consensus. but in practice, consensus often follows the code, not the other way around.
When Core maintainers approve a change, it propagates silently.
Most node operators don’t audit code.
They trust.
They comply.
Exampl: #OPRETURN
Core removed the 80-byte limit with almost no discussion.
Thousands of nodes implemented it automatically.
Most had no idea what changed.
That quiet change triggered a silent revolt:
#Knots node usage surged 137% as informed operators rejected Core’s move.
But let’s be real:
That’s a small, technical elite.
Most #node runners are flying blind.
This creates a hidden centralization vector:
#Core devs don’t just write code. they decide which changes even get considered.
If they don’t approve it, it doesn’t reach the network.
They control what’s ‘acceptable’ and that shapes Bitcoin’s future more than most realize.
They decide which changes are “reasonable.”
And that shapes Bitcoin’s future. far more than people admit.
This isn’t about malice.
It’s about structure.
Complexity creates dependence.
And dependence creates power.
#Bitcoin’ s biggest centralization risk isn’t hashpower.
It’s the silent authority of trusted code maintainers (of the most dominated node sotwares out there) and the myth that decentralization protects us from that.
