Decentralization for Web3 Builders: Principles, Models, How - a16z crypto

Decentralization can be thought of as a single design challenge that spans three different, but interrelated elements: technical, economic, and legal. Understanding the differences in these elements is key to designing web3 systems because design decisions with respect to one affects the others.

The success of these systems will depend on their ability to deliver the actual benefits of decentralization, including more equitable ownership among stakeholders, reduced censorship, and greater diversity.

But decentralizing the internet has been hard to do. When contrasted against the well-established efficiency and stability of centralized systems, decentralized systems have struggled to keep pace. Now, however, the emerging technology of crypto and web3 — specifically, programmable blockchains, composable smart contracts, and digital assets — make... See more

The decentralization of clients within DeFi is somewhat straightforward given their relative simplicity — very little incentivization is necessary to get third parties to build independent and simple gateways (mostly in the form of websites) to such protocols. However, as web3 products and services become increasingly complex, with computationally ... See more

At a fundamental level, blockchain networks and smart contract protocols enable technical decentralization. But they can also be designed in a manner that promotes both economic and legal decentralization as well, including:-by enabling transparency — for example, anyone can currently view where the most digital assets have been deposited-by being ... See more