You're right, and the uncomfortable part is that decentralization isn't a property Bitcoin has. It's a bill that gets paid every day by people who could simply stop paying it. A node that verifies the whole chain fits on a used office PC now, so the barrier stopped being capital a while ago. What's left is habit. That's why I'm less worried about the protocol than about the holders: the chain can stay perfectly decentralized while the coins pile up on a handful of custodians' balance sheets, and nobody checks a number that was handed to them. So I'd put it a little differently than "we will win." There's no finish line where it's safe. The people who know are the maintenance budget, and that budget only holds if the next ones find it worth paying.