Transactions in bitcoin, eg sending a bitcoin from one wallet to another, occur on the blockchain and are decentralized. The fiat value of bitcoin, however, is

Transactions in bitcoin, eg sending a bitcoin from one wallet to another, occur on the blockchain and are decentralized. The fiat value of bitcoin, however, is determined by supply and demand for that bitcoin-fiat cross, just like anything else in open markets. That trading for these crosses occur on the exchanges. > There's still a semi-central location you have to go to in order to get any real, actual currency out of it This is definitely still the case. The exchanges themselves, though, could potentially be implemented via blockchain. This would likely reduce transaction costs and could make them more secure. In this case the would actually be decentralized.