> It requires network consensus.

No, it requires network control. Consensus among a large number of independent participants who agree on a change is one way to have that control.

But another way is to have a minority of participants that control a disproportionately large fraction of mining decide what to do.

The history of crypto shows that over time, miners tend to consolidate until eventually you have a small number of miners who significant leverage over the ledger. None of that should be surprising: economy of scale is economics 101 and certainly applies to miners who buy and run hardware in bulk.

> Non-fiat currency is the most egalitarian system possible.

Egalitarianism is a property of human behavior and social systems, not the hardware that humans may or may not be using as intended.