Bitcoin is an internet currency with no central authority to confirm transactions and issue new money.
This is the major problem bitcoin solved.
True, but it's the benefits of decentralization that matter to most users than the fact that it's decentralized. If there was some way to ensure that a centralized alternative was censor-resistant and uncontrollable it would have fit that function (maybe some satellite central node that is immutable). BTC just happened to do it via the ingenious decentralized design.