Back in 2017, researchers at the Bank of Finland called Bitcoin something unusual: a revolutionary monopoly protocol.
Their point was simple. You can’t really regulate it because no one is in charge. The rules are baked in, and no central authority gets to change them.
They also noted that transaction fees aren’t dictated by miners or any central body. Users decide what they’re willing to pay, which makes top-down control basically impossible.
That’s the core of Bitcoin’s resilience. Consensus, not permission, keeps the network running and protects it from being bent, captured, or shut down.
