First, you need to learn how to distinguish cryptocurrency and bitcoin, because, contrary to popular belief, these are two different concepts in terms of the degree of decentralization. If, for example, a cryptocurrency depends on the authority of a single man or team of developers, if all the decisions about the future of the protocol are made unilaterally by its creator, then you will know that this particular currency can be or will be shut down by people in power. Also, governments can continue to regulate such cryptocurrency until it is no longer exist. Say, there is some privacy coin that was created by John Smith. John is the only decision-maker, developer, and therefore a single point of failure. In spite of these obvious disadvantages, the coin does work perfectly, and more and more people start using it to transact privately. The more popular it gets, the more attention it attracts from the government. They may come to John Smith, knock on his door and ask him politely to make his coin less private and more compliant with current laws. Otherwise, he may found himself in jail. John Smith will have no other choice but comply with the law, implement government-approved protocol changes, and KYC/AML procedures. Most people won't see a point in using a private coin without privacy, which will likely lead to the coin's demise.


It should be clear, at this point, that no matter how unique the features of a coin are, they will make no sense unless a coin is decentralized.