Power tends to concentrate quickly around core developers, exchanges, or large holders. The language stays radical while the structure becomes conventional. This doesn’t make decentralization impossible, but it does make it rare. The gap between rhetoric and governance deserves more attention.

Adoption among the truly unbanked remains limited. Volatility, fees, and UX complexity often make outcomes worse, not better. What’s marketed as inclusion frequently looks like exposure to new risk. That doesn’t negate the goal—but it weakens the claim.

Every major failure eventually involves human judgment: forks, rollbacks, negotiated fixes. “Code is law” works only until reality intrudes. Authority always returns—just without clear accountability.

Not marginal improvements or new narratives, but boring reliability. Clear governance, low fraud, and systems that don’t require constant rescue. None of that is impossible—but it remains aspirational.