But blockchains are basically federated - every user is able to hold a complete copy of the chain and participate in the same way, provided they are technically

But blockchains are basically federated - every user is able to hold a complete copy of the chain and participate in the same way, provided they are technically adept enough. The current state of cryptocurrency proves my point, in a sense: how can a non-technical user be involved in the blockchain, without needing to understand private key cryptography or maintain a wallet, or a copy of the chain? By centralising that effort in an exchange, along with thousands of other users. But exchanges have exactly the issue of the author's "online democracy" - they are easily subverted by the people who actually control the technology. Thus, exchanges get hacked and their users' "decentralised" currency gets taken, because those users tried to bypass the technical effort required to operate the blockchain in the first place.