IMO this new design is "fine w/me" in the way that ethereum is "fine w/me." If people want a not-so-decentralized cryptocoin that's not-so-trustless, then so be it.
If it handles transactions faster, better, cheaper, and with less emissions, then so be it.
Unfortunately bitcoin's popularity/ubiquity makes it superior (for the time being) and hard to unseat. Other (decentralized) altcoins make really great improvements over bitcoin but never became (and perhaps never will become) as popular as bitcoin.
