What Is the Trade-off in Decentralization between PoA and Pure PoW?

PoA generally offers less decentralization than pure PoW. While the PoW phase is open to all miners, the PoS validation phase often involves a smaller, sometimes permissioned, set of stakers.

Pure PoW allows for a more open and permissionless participation, leading to greater geographical and organizational decentralization. PoA sacrifices some of this openness for faster finality and energy efficiency.