Bitcoin mining cannot be centralized (for long) because it operates in the free market - forcing innovation in energy and a constant exploration to find lower energy costs and better compute. In other words - Legacy miners have very little advantage.

In fact, even if miners tried to game a system to win more fees in the short term (inscriptions etc) they would only hurt themselves. Malinvestments in running in high cost energy sites that should have been closed or moved to HPC because they believe they’re still “profitable” Instead of being forced by the market to innovate, they try to game it to increase fees.

In other words, by focusing on fees rather than lower cost energy (and/or utilizing the heat) creative destruction plays out at scale.

Random thoughts for a Saturday night in case someone tells you that something has to change to protect against the centralization of miners.