Yeh, I hadn't appreciated how core the drive for decentralisation was, unless Adam is nursing history, which I don't think he is.

My understanding from listening to David Chaum and his critics (co-founders) is that DigiCash failed because he cared more about the principles than the success of DigiCash.

At peak it was even adopted by MicroSoft and a bank, but it was his stubbornness about technical issues that caused it to fail. I've heard him acknowledge that himself.