[snapdangle]

I believe the point being made is that the _value_ of the crypto system is largely controlled by small groups. Forks rarely achieve the value and status of the prior coin (considering ETC the "fork" here as it was the chain that didn't have the core dev approval).

Furthermore, crypto value is beholden on whales not to just dumping their vast hoards of coins into marketplaces all at once. That is to say, the largest stakeholders in a chain have the opportunity to crush the value of that chain, which means that they have power over other users' choice of chain .

[SlowRobotAhead]

That’s exactly right. And as to whales and who controls the largest amounts of coin. I think people are absolutely crazy if they think and coin since bitcoin doesn’t have the largest share holders as the devs themselves. It’s obvious why there are a million coins right now.

Itslired by the great mystery of bitcoin, it’s like an appealing urban legend to say “we don’t know who owns all our coin by design! wink”. So this doubly makes the coin devs more powerful than “but it’s decentralized” people want to admit.