When I research privacy coins I see that there is no ideal:
XMR has a low anonymity set
ARRR has a trusted setup
FIRO has masternodes
I’m not an expert but I feel that getting rid of masternodes would fully decentralize the crypto and should be priority.
You may want to do a little bit more research before jumping to the conclusion that all Master Nodes are bad and centralizing.
Firo Master Nodes provide a necessary function in protecting the Firo network from 51% attacks (Firo was attacked just before implementing Master Node chain locks, and hasn’t been attacked since). In addition to chain locks, Firo Master Nodes also provide a service called Instasend - which allows the Master Nodes to finalize transactions within seconds and provide a more secure network than normal POW only chains. Firo has a hybrid chain with both POW (mining - continuing to provide a fair distribution of new coins to anyone that wants to mine Firo) plus Master Nodes that provide the added security for the network (and provide compensation to the community members that run the Master Nodes).
Master nodes have gotten a bad reputation due to some projects implementing them with centralized control as a primary requirement. Firo’s Master Nodes do not have a pre-registration requirement or pre-approval process like some projects. Firo’s Master Nodes can be run by anyone that sets up the required wallet and sets aside the appropriate collateral and runs a VPS with a dedicated IP4 IP address - or even people can run a Master Node on their own systems provided they have a static IP address.
The Firo Master Node Setup Guide (Firo masternode setup guide | Firo - Privacy-preserving cryptocurrency) has the documentation on how to setup your own node (either on your own hardware or using one of many service providers providing VPS and/or Node hosting services).
To address you specific concerns about Master Nodes being centralizing - they aren’t really any more centralizing than having mining being done by only a handful of mining pools. There are 9 Master Node / VPS providers listed in the setup guide - plus many community members running their own nodes on their own equipment or using diverse VPS services) - Firo is not your average Master Node coin. Firo currently has over 4600 active Master Nodes on the Firo network.
If you do more research into Firo (Firo.org) you will realize that a hybrid (POW + MN) setup has many advantages over many other coins (also see project comparison here: How Firo's Privacy Technology Compares to the Competition | Firo - Privacy-preserving cryptocurrency) - and the way Firo has setup the hybrid system makes a lot of sense.
Getting rid of Firo’s Master Nodes would not significantly help with decentralizing Firo - and would disable features that make Firo better than many of the other projects in the crypto space. I hope this helps.
Thanks for clarification. As a noob I just post questions.
We are all here to learn. After all, Catcher in the Rye was a coming of age story where Holden asks many introspecting questions and discovers the vast world 