It's clear both come with their merits and demerits. But, do we need to acknowledge that both can coexist? Are there situations where centralization could be beneficial? Can there be a balance?
Certainly, there is nothing wrong with both to coexist.
Are there situations where centralization could be beneficial? Can there be a balance?
I hardly think there are any significant advantages. But I believe it solely depends on the context, within some settings a degree of centralisation is required, and rather a necessity. So there couldn't be an exact balance between centralization and decentralization, one thing to note is that, currently, many cryptocurrency projects sacrifice some degree of decentralisation and yet still claim they are decentralized, this is what I think is rather wrong.
After all, cryptocurrency is a brand new thing, so we shall see how it develops and gains maturity to see how the space will evolve.