"Not your keys, not your crypto" is a sentiment that dates way back to the early days of Bitcoin that is so simple and elegant in its message, but the implementation of which is made harder everyday with the temptations of centralization.
The trend towards centralization within cryptocurrency didn't gain traction because it offers services and interest rates upon your balance, but because the inept crypto user wouldn't know what a bitcoin wallet is if it was right in front of them. At that point, it's evident the people that fit that description comprise probably more than %80 of the crypto sphere.
With this strain of users comes a certain demand that has the potential to be capitalized upon. There was a vacuum, and then that vacuum was filled with exchanges and interest savings wallets. Celsius was one of them.
One of the worst phenomena that's been happening since the inception of Bitcoin is the merger of the traditional (legacy) financial system, with all its centralized aspects, with the benefit of the unregulated nature of cryptocurrencies. Essentially, services like Celsius, Nexo, and BlockFi all capitalize on the that trend towards centralization.
But how did this trend towards centralization came to be? It's quite simple: The inept users want to take part in the crypto craze, without the hassle and risk of managing their own wallets. This is borne out of the fear of diving into the technical nature, which renders Celsius a very compelling option, with the traditional username/password set-up instead of the multi-stepped access interface of bitcoin wallets.
Therefore, the results are quite self-defeating: What gave crypto glamour against the legacy financial system is now stripped away and delegated to people prone to the sways of greed and bouts of control, without regulation.
Regulations take extreme precedence under the hood of the legacy financial system for a reason. They don't exist just to manage the bank-client dynamic, they govern the very inner operations of the bank itself. Celsius's downfall came about because it overloaned itself, with no way out of the hot mess it got itself into, resulting in drastic, ultimately anti-crypto rhetoric, action to be taken. Normally, regulations would've prevented this from taking place entirely, but this is the crypto sphere, regulation is the menace to the game, and the only damage that has occurred was done to the inept user's funds.
HIVE is special
HIVE has achieved something that has yet to be replicated. It forces its users to tightly integrate their personal wallets in their operations inside HIVE, maintaining complete control of their funds and creating an intimate relation between the user and their wallet, in addition to a savings accounts apparatus. Essentially, the sentiment of 'Not your keys, not your coins' is embedded onto the blockchain itself. One of the pitfalls of HIVE, however, is the technical barrier that's involved when it comes to onboarding new people in. The process involved is so herculean to anyone who is even moderately Crypto inclined that it ends up repelling potential newcomers. This is a problem that has been hindering HIVE's adoption since forever.
Could others establish a similar set-up to HIVE? Perhaps, but with great difficulty. The functions that allow the wallet to be so well integrated throughout all the levels of operations within the platform are the building blocks of the blockchain itself. As such, one has to build a blockchain from scratch, rather than transform one that already exists.
Conclusion
Even when completely detached from the Legacy financial system, the crypto rhetoric is still threatened by centralization and its consequences, now supercharged by the absence of regulations. This trend towards centralization has far more damning implications, as these services basically comprise a big part of the public crypto image to outsiders. One thing has become clear, though. HIVE is the most robust blockchain that combines non-sovereignty, savings account and social media in one place.