Blockchain systems run consensus rules as code to agree on the state of the distributed ledger and secure the network. Changing these rules can be risky and challenging. In addition, it can often be controversial and take much effort to make all the necessary participants agree to adopt a change. Arguably, Bitcoin has seen centralisation tendencies in pools and in development. However, how these tendencies influence blockchain governance has received minimal community and academic attention. Our study analyses the governmental structures in a blockchain by looking into the history of Bitcoin. We investigate the process of changing consensus rules through a grounded theory analysis comprising quantitative and qualitative data from 34 consensus forks in Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash. The results reveal the decentralised behaviour in Bitcoin and blockchain. Our results are in contrast to related work, emphasising centralisation among miners and developers. Furthermore, our results show how the consensus-driven deployment techniques and governance of consensus rules are intertwined.

翻译：区块链系统将共识规则以代码形式运行，以协调分布式账本状态并保障网络安全。修改这些规则既充满风险又极具挑战性，且常引发争议，需要耗费大量精力使所有必要参与者同意采纳变更。不可否认，比特币在矿池与开发方面已显现中心化趋势。然而，这些趋势如何影响区块链治理却鲜少受到学术界与社区的关注。本研究通过剖析比特币发展史，探究区块链中的治理结构。我们采用扎根理论分析法，对比特币与比特币现金的34次共识分叉进行定量与定性数据研究，揭示了比特币及区块链中的去中心化行为特征。研究结果与强调矿工与开发者中心化的相关文献形成对比，并进一步展示了共识驱动的部署技术与共识规则治理之间的相互交织关系。