I see what you mean. I don't know if it's the case on the L1 too, but aren't there some kind of requirement to run a node?
To me all network that use nodes seem to be more or less towards the the centralized rather than decentralized. Perhaps it's just methough, but it seems to be the standard 🙄
!BBH !SLOTH
No, with L1, all you need is the machine or VPS, set up and start witnessing. You will need Hive Power to support the resource credits needed, but it's not 2000HP.
And yes, most, if not all proof of stake chains are leaning more to the centralized direction, at least the majority power with a very few kind of thing. I have worked in various ecosystems over the years, and it's a problem in all of them.