I don't think it follows that fiat is more democratic.
Mining is not (and cannot be) a perfectly private thing that the wealthy and powerful have full control over. Ultimately, they operate at the pleasure of governments. They are subject to political whims. A nation state could theoretically nationalize all miners in the country if the political capital to do so existed.
What makes bitcoin unique to fiat currencies, is that it is democratic on a global scale between organizations and entities that control energy production and the technological capacity to produce efficient computation. And how these organizations use their voting power is still ultimately driven by the politics within, whether that's democratic or otherwise. It's not "one person, one vote", it's "one hash, one vote". The distribution of voting power across the globe is a constantly evolving thing that depends on how much electricity and computational efficiency different localities can muster.
This is why I personally think bitcoin will be the next global reserve currency. It automatically gives proportional voting power to countries based on how effectively they can summon computation, rather than how effectively they can summon violence and destruction.
Mining is not (and cannot be) a perfectly private thing that the wealthy and powerful have full control over. Ultimately, they operate at the pleasure of governments. They are subject to political whims. A nation state could theoretically nationalize all miners in the country if the political capital to do so existed.
What makes bitcoin unique to fiat currencies, is that it is democratic on a global scale between organizations and entities that control energy production and the technological capacity to produce efficient computation. And how these organizations use their voting power is still ultimately driven by the politics within, whether that's democratic or otherwise. It's not "one person, one vote", it's "one hash, one vote". The distribution of voting power across the globe is a constantly evolving thing that depends on how much electricity and computational efficiency different localities can muster.
This is why I personally think bitcoin will be the next global reserve currency. It automatically gives proportional voting power to countries based on how effectively they can summon computation, rather than how effectively they can summon violence and destruction.