[once_inc]

Not OP, but:

> by a centralized web site, is the exact antithesis of cryptocurrencies. What happened to decentralization?

A centralized cryptocurrency is an antithesis. I don't care if any of the products or websites in the surrounding ecosystem are centralized: all I care about is that bitcoin remains decentralized.

Decentralization is a force that limits usefullness. Bitcoin is useful only as a base layer; digital gold that higher layer (more centralized) systems can use to settle down to. Being more centralized offers features Bitcoin doesn't have (high throughput, easy onboarding, etc) at a cost of new risks (counterparty risk, etc). Settling down at the behest of the user allows those users to mitigate that risk, and get the best of both worlds.

[mbesto]

Gold bars are technically "decentralized". No one controls the supply (e.g. there isn't a sovereignty that creates/destroys them), and I can technically just dig them up out of the ground.

[samkon]

You’ve articulated why people call Bitcoin “digital gold”.

[mbesto]

Totally. So what's the advantage of using crypto over a bar of gold then?

[once_inc]

Because while gold bars might be technically decentralized, that doesn't mean they are practically decentralized too. In fact, gold bars are probably 99% centralized in corporate and governmental vaults, neither of which are openly audited. Also; lots of 'paper gold' is sold, suppressing the value of it.

[samkon]

Crypto can be secured and transported much more cheaply and easily - as opposed to gold, where many people would rather own/trade a receipt for gold kept in a secured vault.