The lack of clarity around the masternodes is amazing. The only thing that seems agreed upon is that a small group of people control the majority of the supply. Whether or not there is a fixed limit on the number of masternodes, since it takes so much currency to have one, there is a de facto limit, and so there is centralisation.
Indeed, and I think this is the hidden power of DASH. It is a private fiat currency, mimicking as a crypto currency. Because if you hold the keys to the voting system, you can do ANYTHING if you want to, including inventing a block that assigns you an extra 5 million coins. This is a central bank system. And these systems work well, and make their owners also very rich. But it is also a payment system that will work much better than one where there is true decentralization, with all the burden it brings.
Centralisation is an anathema to cryptocurrency. Not only will you have decisions that are not in the best interest of the currency being made, but if the allegations are true that the founder unfairly and intentionally pilfered a plurality of the currency, and said founder is still in control, then what other decisions based on personal gain will be made?
Well, he is still limited by the credibility of his decisions, and has to keep up the monetary belief. Just like the governor of a central bank cannot just start printing like crazy without harming the value of its currency. But that's about it.