The whole idea behind IOG is to build the Cardano to the point it can become an independent, self-sustaining and self-developing thing.
So weird how proof-of-work currencies like Bitcoin were able to do that without making a centralized governance structure which promised to hand over the keys later.
yes TWO mining pools control more than half of the Bitcoins block production
Mining pools have been getting more distributed the last few years thanks to some network upgrades. Pools relay the results of mining, they don't do the actual mining, they have no hashpower. In the past, pools have tried to censor transactions, and seen their pool get abandoned by the entire network. They couldn't censor them of course, they could only temporarily delay them. Pools have no power. They can't double-spend or 51% attack because nearly all of the BTC they acquire flows right back to miners. They can't afford the cost of a 51% attack more than any other entity or nation-state. They can't spend money which isn't theirs, even if they could do a 51% attack. If you look at hashpower instead of pools, you will see it's much more decentralized.
Actually, in Cardano, the rich don’t really get richer because every single holder no matter how small gets rewards proportional to their holdings (if they stake or delegate, which is risk free and no locking unlike Ethereum and Solana garbage PoS).
The rewards proportion isn't why the "rich get richer". The rich get richer because coins in transit can't stake. This means the only coins that can stake are existing coins, sitting in wallets, doing nothing but staking. You are printing an inflationary currency supply, making new coins, and giving those coins to those who are already sitting on the most coins. The more coins you have, the greater portion of your coins will be sitting instead of moving, because why not, it's free money right? For doing nothing. It's why supply inflation/currency devaluation hurts the middle class more than anybody else. They have an emergency fund, they have a savings account, they are saving up for a down payment. They have more cash on hand than rich people or poor people. Rich people have assets. Poor people don't have enough money to be effected. The proportionality doesn't matter here. What matters is the direction of the new coin flow: towards those who are already sitting on coins.
In a fixed supply, your coins may gain value over time due to deflationary pressure. Every coin is effected the same way. In cardano and other inflationary currencies, you've added an additional layer where you are printing coins and handing them to those with the most coins already. Not only does this give them more coins, it reduces the value of the coins held by people whose coins recently transited.