Four tiers. C, B, A and S. Let’s start with C-Tier, the most centralized blockchains, and go through to A-Tier and S-Tier the most decentralized blockchains.
C-Tier - Blockchains with Terrible or No Decentralization
- NEO, which is only run by 7 nodes of which 5 are owned by NEO, and it is permissioned and non-trustless
- Icon, which is run by 6 nodes and it is permissioned and non-trustless
- WTC, which is run by 6 nodes and it is permissioned and non-trustless
- EOS, which is run by 21 nodes and is permissioned and non-trustless
- Tron, originally a PoS blockchain, became the worst version of itself. If they simply stayed a classic PoS where around 100 entities hold 51% of the voting power and would have been happy with 1,500 TPS that a classic PoS blockchain can do, then it would be a top 10 blockchain in terms of decentralization and scalability. However, no they had to make the mistake that all the not so intelligent blockchain leader make. Sacrificing all of their decentralization for some more scalability. Tron is governed by 27 super representatives, which opens a myriad of attack vectors including social engineering, phising, blackmail, coercion and cartel formation, just like in EOS. Also, all super representatives have to identify themselves, this makes it extremely easy to attack them with all the above mentioned attack vectors. Furthermore, more than 51% of the token supply are within 3 entities. The first 3 entities here TRON BlockChain Explorer already have 20% and then the Tron foundation has locked up 33% of the token supply in 1,000 addresses that they control, adding up to 53% of the tokens controlled by 4 entities. These attacks are already starting to happen. Tron is already riddled with vote buying. Read more here: The Trials of Tron
- Ark, which is run by 51 nodes and is permissioned and non-trustless
- Lisk, which is run by 101 nodes and is permissioned and non-trustless
- VeChain with their Proof of Authority algorithm, which is heavily permissioned and non-trustless
- Nuls with their Proof of Credits algorithm, which is permissioned and non-trustless
B-Tier - Blockchains with Mediocre Decentralization
- Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Dogecoin, Monero, Verge because 51% of their hashing power is controlled by 2 entities, Bitmain and another pool. However, this provides a bit more decentralization than Masternodes, since it is not completely centralized with mining pools. However, they are permissionless and trustless.
- Dash, which is controlled by 3 mining pools, though with its 5,000 Masternodes, it’s slightly better than generic PoW coins.
- Digibyte is a PoW blockchain that is controlled by 5 mining pools. Additionally, it has several mining algorithms, which is better than just one. This puts it slightly ahead of all other PoW coins. However, it still suffers from mining pool centralization and doesn’t seem to offer any solution for that.
- Hashgraph, which is trustless, but also permissioned, because its governance is dictated by a board of 39 people and they decide what dapps and structures will be allowed or not based on their interest.
- Stellar, which is permissionless, though non-trustless, and 80% of the supply is owned by Stellar, which puts 1 entity in control while it has 60 known nodes and 250 total nodes. However, those nodes are put into quorum slices, so there are probably only around 10 quorum slices that vote. If anyone has information on that let me know, I didn’t find more info on that.
- XRP, which is run by 120 validating nodes and which is permissionless, but not trustless. Furthermore, 52% of the supply is locked up by Ripple, which puts 1 entity in control. Finally, only only 6 accounts own more than 51% of the circulating supply again. However, with XRP holding funds doesn’t add to control, so it’s not that important. XRP gets overstated as a decentralized blockchain, often because of this scam article, The Inherently Decentralized Nature of XRP Ledger | Ripple, but be wary: XRP is in fact the 4th most centralized blockchain.
A-Tier - Blockchains with OK Decentralization
- Nano, which is controlled by 6 entities, which have more than 51% Nanode · Representatives, but which is trustless and permissionless. Another flaw with Nano is that it doesn’t have dapps or smart contracts.
- Cardano, which is controlled by 70 nodes and possibly 20 entities. Rich List - Cardano Block Explorer. Cardano is also permissionless and trustless
- Decred with their hybrid PoW/PoS consensus algorithm that is also permissionless and trustless
S-Tier - Blockchains with Excellent Decentralization
All of the S-Tier Blockchains are permissionless and trustless.
- Tezos, which has liquid dPoS and constantly changes voting nodes
- IOTA, which is controlled by millions of entities, but only at scale. Any new users will add a new node and vote and infinitely increase decentralization for each new node.
- Holochain, which is built to be controlled by millions of entities. Any new users will add a new node and vote and infinitely increase decentralization for each new node.
- Quarkchain, which uses Sharding for consensus, which is excellent decentralization, excellent scalability and also permissionless and trustless.
- Zilliqa, which uses Sharding for consensus, which is excellent decentralization, excellent scalability and also permissionless and trustless.
- Elastos, which is built to be controlled to by millions of entities, depending on the number of side-chains and number of nodes in those chains and infinitely increase decentralization for each new node.
Conclusion
The C-Tier blockchains are pretty much worthless, because they suffer from the worst centralization. There is no point to use their blockchain and they could also use a server for their transaction with no difference in security.
Tron,
Stellar and
XRP top the tier as they have one entity in control. The B-Tier blockchains are mediocre. Definitely not truly decentralized. The A-Tier blockchains have decent decentralization, but they still have only 50 entities that control them. What makes them A-Tier is that they are permissionless and trustless. If you are permissioned or non-trustless, you can never be A-Tier.
The S-Tier blockchains have outstanding decentralization. They are designed to be controlled by at least millions of nodes and they are obviously also completely permissionless and trustless. If you are permissioned or non-trustless, you can never be S-Tier.
Tezos,
IOTA (at scale),
Holochain,
Elastos are the current surveyed blockchains with outstanding decentralization. However,
Tezos completely missed also focusing on scalability. That’s why they can only do 300 TPS, while IOTA, Holochain and Elastos can do millions to billions of TPS.