Thread by exlawyer.eth/tez

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With the recent acquisition of Punks and Meebits by @yugalabs and rumors of a Disney acquisition, I've seen a lot of discussion that these developments fly in the face of Web 3 and decentralization. I think many people have very broad definitions of decentralization. A 🧵
2) As I see it, there are 3 types of decentralization and they all vary in importance. From most important to least important, they are:
1. Platform Decentralization
2. Application Decentralization
3. Project Decentralization
3) Platform Decentralization is generally what people like @punk6529 and @krybharat are talking about when they talk about the importance of decentralization. Platform Decentralization is the concept that web 3 and the metaverse run on a decentralized platform...
4) that no one person or company or even small group of people or companies can control. First, let's talk about what I mean by "Platform". Simply put, the platform is the base that everything else is built upon.
5) Ethereum is a great example of Platform Decentralization - no one, not even Vitalik, can ban you from using Ethereum. And, as you'll see below, applications and projects are built on top of it. Sometimes Punk6529 refers to this as the "rails" that everything runs on.
6) What's the alternative to a decentralized platform? A platform like Facebook's version of the metaverse is the alternative. It's likely that you will be able to do the same things on both, but in FB's version, FB has total control over whether you are allowed to participate.
7) FB's version will still have NFTs and a 3d metaverse that you can explore. You'll still be able to sell your NFTs, change your avatar, etc., but if you violate FB's terms of service, FB can ban you and you will lose access to everything that you own on the platform.
8) Simply put, if you piss of Zuck or the FB staff, you can't participate. NO ONE can do that to you in a web 3 that is running on decentralized rails like Ethereum. This is a battle that we cannot lose.
9) Next up is Application Decentralization. Application Decentralization is the concept that apps that run on top of the rails are themselves under decentralized control. A great example of an application is OpenSea.
10) OpenSea is centralized application that runs on top of a decentralized platform. So, what does that mean? It means that OS can ban you from using its application, but it still can't ban you from using the platform it runs on.
11) For example, if an NFT is stollen, OS will sometimes ban trading of that NFT on OS, but the NFT is still tradeable elsewhere because the NFT itself is on a decentralized platform. So, if OS bans trade of an NFT on OS...
12) OS cannot prevent you from trading the NFT on Looks Rare, Rareable, or any other application. The administrators of those applications would also have to ban the trade of the NFT. Exlawyer, if OS is a centralized application, what does a decentralized application look like?
13) Great question! SuperRare is a decentralized application. A while back, SuperRare banned 3 artists from the platform.If SR was a centralized application, that would have been the end of it; those artists would never have been allowed to participate on the SR marketplace.
14) But, because SR created the $RARE token and gave holders governance powers, a group of art collectors was able to get them back onto the platform by creating a proposal that all holders of $RARE could vote on.
15) Ultimately, that vote passed and all 3 artists are now allowed on SR. Importantly, anyone can participate by simply buying some $RARE. You can read a little more about the SR vote in some of the recent tweets from @ericprhodes like this one:

16) An important lesson from this is that a decentralized platform can have centralized day-to-day management that makes every-day decisions, but ultimately power rests in the decentralized participants (here, holders of $RARE).
17) Winning the war for Platform Decentralization is life or death for web 3 as we know and love it. But, winning the war for at least some Application Decentralization is also very, very important. Ultimately, the Platform is the rails, but the Applications are the train cars.
18) Having rails that anyone can access isn't much good if you can be banned from every train car. We need at least 1 version of every core web 3 application to have Application Decentralization. We need at least 1 decentralized NFT marketplace, bchain explorer, token swap, etc.
19) And, that brings us to the last form of decentralization: Project Decentralization. Last, we have Project Decentralization. Before I get started here, it's important to note that we will never reach decentralization of all projects.
20) Project Decentralization is the concept that an NFT project has decentralized governance. The funny thing is, this actually isn't the norm. Almost every project (other than CC0 projects) have centralized control. When Yuga bought Punks...
21) some people claimed it centralized Punks. But, it actually didn't. Prior to Yuga's acquisition, control of the punks IP was centralized in @larvalabs. Now, it's slightly decentralized because Yuga gave all holders full commercial rights, but ultimate control...
22) of the IP as a whole is still centralized, but now it's centralized with Yuga. But here's the important thing, it doesn't actually matter if the there is Project Decentralization because there is Platform Decentralization.
23) Because Punks are built on a Decentralized Platform, they gain many of the benefits of that platform. Namely, no one can ever take your Punk away, ban you from sending it to someone else, or prevent you from selling it (so long as at least one market exists that adheres..
24) to Application Decentralization). There will always be Centralized Projects, but as long as they are built on top of Decentralized Platforms and there are Decentralized Applications, the will forever benefit from the Decentralization inherent in the Platform and the Apps.
25) Ok, if Punks are an example of a Centralized Project, what's an example of Project Decentralization? Simple, any project with a CC0 license, like @cryptoadzNFT. Because of the CC0 license, anyone can use the art however they wish, without asking for permission.
26) Because the Toadz are a Decentrlized Project, not even @supergremplin can keep you from using the Toadz however you wish - it is decentralized.
27) I really hope this has been helpful. When you're thinking about decentralization as a concept, it's important to think about what you are specifically discussing - a platform, an application, or a project. In a perfect world, we would see decentralization...
28) across all 3, but for Web 3 to be the force for good and change that we believe it can be, we MUST have Platform Decentralization and at least one core service in each category must have Application Decentralization.
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