Non-hierarchical

A hierarchical system is the one commonly found within companies and organizations. People at the top of a hierarchy have overwhelming power to direct resources and events. A hierarchy comes in different extremes. At one extreme, you could have a system wherein a single arbiter holds absolute power. At the other extreme, you could have a system where each member of the system holds identical direct power and therefore control exists through influence, reputation, or some other form of organizational currency.

In blockchain, a few forms of non-hierarchical patterns have emerged. The first is in proof-of-work mining systems. All miners are fundamentally equal participants in the blockchain, but their influence is proportional to the computing resources they make available to the network.

In PoS blockchain systems, the power is distributed based on the level of investment/stake in the protocol of a specific. In this case, decentralization is achieved both through mass adoption as well as competition with other chains. If one chain becomes too centralized, nothing stops users from migrating to a different one.

How decentralized these systems will remain over time is an open question.