* The fact that witnesses can be only replaced gradually 1-by-1, this doesn't mean that it is not decentralized. This rule is there not just for fun.
This means users need external coordination outside the system in case of witnesses misbehaviour, quite impossible case seeing what witnesses you are presenting.
* Only 12 witnesses doesn't also mean that it is not decentralized because 12 witnesses are not same as 12 validators or 12 miners or 12 representatives or 12 stakers or 12 coordinators.
Of course not. Who are the ones of the list putting real resources to work so anybody can be sure of real resources spent without having to know who are he/she/whatever?
* More than 12 witnesses doesn't make it more decentralized either, only thing that makes it more decentralized is replacing current witnesses with other more reputable persons and companies. Also, running a witness full node will make it more decentralized, even if you are not picked as a witness on anyone's list
https://github.com/byteball/byteball-witnessMore distributed fits better I think. And byte waste too.
And that is the process that Byteball is currently on, getting more decentralized with every new replaced witness.
Of course, you can slice their head, and you have sucessfully decentralized a witness.
When half of the Byteball witnesses get replaced then Byteball will be more decentralized than Bitcoin because these witnesses don't have the power that Bitcoin miners have
A bitcoin node doesn't have to care about power a miner have in order to use bitcoin network, like with witnesses in Byteball.
It checks if signatures and proof of work are valid. If so, this means it has received the data he has to receive. Nobody has to know another, nobody has to reveal the identity, removing failure points of the system.
In byteball, you have witnesses. If you haven't got a witnesses list, you have to get the last unit one in order to use the platform. If you have already one, it must be compatible.
They are publicly, known and well behavioured. Should have to trust them in order to use the platform? Please answer.
and because you will never know how much Bitcoin hashpower belongs the same people because these are just some anonymous machines in mining pools, that Bitcoin full node that you might be running doesn't make it more decentralized because your input is minuscule compared to those who have big serverfarms with almost free electricity.
I don't have to care about that. Am I sure they spent resources to get that block? That spent resources is where all nodes form a consensus.
In byteball, the witnesses as a whole is where all nodes form a consensus.
It is not hard to understand, I think.
I tell you a fact that maybe you don't know: even if 100% of hashrate belongs to same bad actor, he could only rewrite 2 days on the past. So if you have to be 100% sure of transaction finality in bitcoin, simply have to wait +288 valid blocks and done.
Byteball consensus is not directly comparable with other blockchain consensuses
It is, is exactly what all cryptocurrencies which are not bitcoin are doing. And is what we are talking about.