You’re right, and it’s the fact that so much of that hashing power is getting into one set of hands that’s the biggest problem for bitcoin. Increased global hash power is good if it’s spread around evenly among altruistic bitcoiners. You can still be a peer by running a node (and accepting incoming connections) without doing any mining, and every bitcoiner should do this to help balance the network, but nodes can’t stop 51% attacks if a large player with unlimited funds sets their sights on that goal (blackrock?) The white paper doesn’t mention the 51% attack vector, and I haven’t studied enough to know when it was realized, but either way, now the most important thing to do to help this problem is quadruple, scatter geographically and further decentralize the mining efforts, and I hope to see those with large audiences in this space strongly recommend developing mining facilities to each new country proposing a bitcoin reserve as a natural part of the process- they should think of it like insurance for their investment (except this insurance earns you money lol). I think it’s part of the formula for global success of fiat replacement. The little guys can’t compete anymore mining and it sucks, but it’s also why the network scales & works. Cheers! Thanks for the initial question. It’s the kind of thing that I’m here to work on. I don’t know everything, but I refuse to stop learning! Have a great weekend!!
Discussion
Yes I see it as a concern as well.
And you don't even need a 51% attack.
If bitcoin becomes the basis of a global monetary system block space will become incredibly valuable. Many people predict very high fees. If even a significant percentage (but still less that 51%) censor transactions it will mean that all "unregulated" transactions are competing for even less available uncensored blackspace.
As mining becomes increasingly done less by individuals and more by regulates companies this concern increases.
Trumps statement that "All future bitcoin should be made in the USA" implies an effort to increase the number of blocks mined in the USA which could easily one day come under strict financial regulation. It is not hard to see a future when the US, EU and other nations form treaties agreeing to eachother's bitcoin blacklists/whitelists.
Work needs to be done to ensure bitcoin mining stays decentralised. I like what ocean mining is doing by allowing miners to stay in a mining pool but still choose their own block templates. This goes a long way to ensuring future true decentralization and resisting censorship.
I want to get involved in OCEAN, but I haven’t determined the minimum setup I’d need to make any bit of difference, but this is on my to-do list along with setting up a node