Bitcoin Beaten by Solana in Decentralization Ranking: But Software Bugs Remain a Threat
A new report from ARK Invest and Glassnode has shed light on the decentralization of three major blockchains, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum, and Solana. The study measured the 'critical resilience threshold,' or the number of entities that must coordinate to pass a concentration point governing block production or voting power.
The results showed that Bitcoin requires only three mining pools to reach this threshold, while Ethereum needs three staking entities, and Solana requires 19 validators with delegated stake. However, the report also highlighted the importance of software bugs in disrupting consensus, citing a single bug as a potential risk for all three networks.
The study emphasized that different blockchains have unique forms of network exposure, including ownership, infrastructure, software, auditability, and exit speed. Institutions considering blockchain adoption must define their failure scenarios before selecting a metric to measure decentralization.
For Bitcoin, the report noted that mining pools can redirect hash rate quickly, making pool concentration important for short-term censorship and template selection. In contrast, Ethereum's staking entities are more tied to underlying operators, attack levels, clients, hosting, and exit queues.