Centralized database? Ummm... How is this possible? According to the plans, Universa will hold not more than 20% of nodes if I'm not mistaken. All other nodes will be from users. Centralized? Nope. The fact that they are licensing nodes does not makes them a centralized system. They use PoA mechanism
Yes, licensing is a sign of centralization. The CEO decides who gets the license. And it doesn't matter how many nodes Universa have officially.