De-centralisation put simply is taking away importance from a central authority. A single group of people with too much power has never really proven healthy or sustainable in the long run. Blockchain technology is spearheading this global de-centralization of everything, and cryptocurrencies are doing just this to the global economic and financial systems since Satoshi Nakamoto created Bitcoin following the 2007-08 financial crash.

This is likely a long-shot, but having 'shower thoughts' this morning I thought that perhaps crypto's de-centralized approach has many parallels with 12-Step programs like Alcoholics Anonymous, which have helped millions of addicts around the world manage their 'spiritual disease' by means of self-supporting communities without the interference of centralized health authorities (who used to see alcoholism as 'untreatable' and would send many of them to mental asylums).

Both have a whitepaper and are ruled by code

Founded by a group of recovering alcoholics, the AA fellowship's aim was to help other alcoholics recover. It is based on simple and clear founding principles laid out in the 'The Big Book' (the whitepaper) which was developed in the 1930s and 40s. It includes the '12 Steps' and the '12 Traditions' of AA, which are essentially the code by which the network and its many fungible fellowships have operated since its inception in a de-centralized manner.

Similarly, Bitcoin was founded by Satoshi Nakamoto (they? him? her?) in 2009 with the aim of creating a de-centralized currency independent of the big banks which have failed to safeguard the interests of most people since forever. Satoshi wrote the code to insure Bitcoin would remain de-centralized, safe and available to anyone with an internet connection. In agreement with the principles and mechanisms behind Bitcoin, cypherpunks and later many others joined the mining effort to expand the fungible Bitcoin network.

Mass adoption

As more alcoholics joined AA and recovered, fellowships cropped up in different parts of the USA, and later the world. These fungible meetings would follow the format suggested by 'The Big Book' with minor variations, keeping true to the '12 Steps and Traditions of AA'. The fellowships in Delhi, Tokyo and London might operate in different languages but are run in the same meeting-based format, with members openly sharing. The fungible meetings all exist as part of the global AA Network, but are also run independently to each other, just like a blockchain. 

Its success has lead to some degree of institutional adoption, in the sense that 'official' figures like doctors and psychiatrists now recommend alcoholics to join AA, instead of sending them to mental asylums. However, it still remains anonymous and decentralized, I have talked to AA members from L.A who have been in meetings with famous Hollywood stars but without saying who they were, just like Bitcoin and its wallet addresses.

In the same way, the Bitcoin network has kept growing, with more and more people storing, paying and transferring Bitcoin funds across the network. In this case, the Proof-of-Work validation mechanism and the mining difficulty hard-wired into the Bitcoin code makes sure that the network remains safe and de-centralized. As more BTC is bought using FIAT, the dawn of a new and fairer de-centralized financial system is slowly taking place: The financial world is 'recovering'.

Other Applications: X Anonymous / ETH, XMR, ADA, LTC...

I am not sure of how it happened, but inspired by the success of AA, other 12-step programs addressing other similar issues started cropping up all over the world, using the blueprint set by 'The Big Book', but to deal with different problems like narcotics, sex, gambling, smoking, just to name a few. There are now over two hundred 12-Step programs actively helping people deal with addiction while remaining de-centralized and without a real central authority corrupting the network as they grow richer and more powerful, perhaps like the role the Vatican played/plays in Catholicism. 

In a similar way, the success of Bitcoin as an alternative currency using blockchain technology inspired other cypherpunks into doing the same, but different. The rise of Smart Contracts saw the rise of Etherium (ETH), the rise in privacy concerns saw the rise of Monero (XMR), and then the forking history of crypto is not something I am going to delve on. The focus has shifted from helping its shareholders create a fairer financial system independent of banks to helping its shareholder de-centralize any digital monopoly, from advertisement and video games to music and videos.

Alright, perhaps the link is a bit tenuous, but...

Ok, I admit that this is all a bit far-fetched. Helping people battle 'spiritual disease' and de-centralizing the digital world are completely different objectives. Perhaps it's like comparing apples to pears, or even airplanes to chairs, but I did want to highlight how de-centralization can be a great way of helping humanity combat its own shortcomings.

Now, since crypto involves money, most people are in it for a profit and not there out of desperation (well, perhaps some people in a dire financial situation bet on it), but perhaps somewhere on the way people will realize how de-centralization can not only help us deal with our personal dark side but also the darkness in our collective financial systems.