This means that the SEC–not known for their technological expertise–could soon be making judgments about ICP decentralization. Since the US is influential in both regulatory and economic spheres, the impact on ICP could be substantial.
IMO currently the NNS is technically very decentralized, but in practice not so much. An examination of the technology suggests high decentralization, while a look at the history of governance suggests the opposite.
My question to the community is this:
What do average users currently think about their experience in governing the Internet Computer?
Do you understand voting and proposals, and feel that your vote matters?
Are you satisfied with your experience and options for following named neurons?
Would you describe ICP as “decentralized”?
The answers to these questions might matter quite a bit soon.
Thanks, I could have phrased this better. I mean to ask about the user experience from the perspective of those who are not well versed in blockchain and cryptographic technology, as I imagine most members of the SEC fall into this category.
For context, I am imagining the SEC hearing from two sides regarding their judgment for ICP. On the one hand are experts who can attest to the decentralized nature of the technology. On the other hand will be the operation of the blockchain in practice, including the history of decision-making and the average user experience. I’m not too concerned with the former, but I’m somewhat concerned with the latter.
Yes it does, so this is from what I can share with less then one year of promoting the IC :
-When doing Q&A and feedback from approximately 40 people that were new to IC but have sort of basic knowledge of crypto (as in they did at least one transaction buying from an exchange with fiat and transferring to a wallet may that be mobile or on pc or mac), they were aware what decentralization means.
-Long story short 37 of them felt confident in IC after creating an Identity and logging on to NNS app from their phone and creating a Neuron to be able to stake some ICP and thus getting rewarded for any vote they cast for the period of time that they choose to lock up their funds.
They all had a security feeling since they didn’t have to leave the ICP on exchange or transfer it to a third party in order to stake.
-So over all the positive experience was my Wallet (NNS) my ICP staked in my device. Regarding the votes they all felt like the following Named neuron from a list is always in the best interest of the chain and since it is an option they all fell happy about not having to log in hourly/daily to check and also knowing that they do not understand how things work they had a lot of faith in Dfinity. So with that said when they look at the Dashboard and see the dots for the nodes running IC they are pleased with Decentralization of the network as it is right now. As far as the NNS it is for sure Decentralized since every person that logs in it is in a different place and can vote as wants if they choose to do so.
-Hope it helps, there is a different story for the so called tech-savvy users, investors and so forth.