Recently, BlackRock released an educational video explaining Bitcoin. I thought this was great. It’s amazing to see Bitcoin being discussed on such a huge platform. But of course, Bitcoin X (Twitter) had a meltdown over one particular line in the video. “There is no guarantee that Bitcoin’s 21 million supply cap will remain unchanged.”
HealthRnager of Natural News said, “Bitcoin has become so centralized that the wrong people now primarily control its algorithms. They know what they’re going to do in advance. I’m telling you,” he said.
Now, let me be clear: this is complete nonsense. This controversy is overblown and the idea that BlackRock will or even could change the supply of Bitcoin is laughable. While the statement in their video is technically true, it is just a legal disclaimer. This is not to say that BlackRock is trying to inflate the supply of Bitcoin. Even if they were, they don’t have the strength to pull it off.
Bitcoin’s 21 million cap is fundamental and uncontroversial. The entire Bitcoin ecosystem (miners, developers, nodes) operates on this core principle. Without it, Bitcoin is not Bitcoin. Additionally, although BlackRock is a major financial company and holds over 500,000 Bitcoins in ETFs, BlackRock’s influence over Bitcoin is virtually non-existent.
Bitcoin is a proof-of-work (PoW) system, not a proof-of-stake (PoS) system. It doesn’t matter how much Bitcoin BlackRock owns. Economic nodes are at the helm.
Let’s play devil’s advocate for a moment. Suppose that BlackRock is proposing changes to the protocol to increase the supply of Bitcoin. what happens? The vast network of nodes simply rejects it. The history of Bitcoin proves this. Remember Roger Ver and the Bitcoin Cash fork? He had a lot of influence and holdings, but because the majority of economic actors didn’t follow him, his version of Bitcoin became obsolete. It became meaningful.
If Bitcoin could have been controlled by a single company like BlackRock, it would have failed long ago. The US government, with its infinite money printing presses, could easily get 10% of the supply if that was enough to control Bitcoin. But that’s not how Bitcoin works. Due to its decentralized nature, no single organization, no matter how powerful, can dictate its terms.
Therefore, there is no need to worry about BlackRock “modifying” Bitcoin. There are strict limits to their influence. Even if developers try to force them to change the protocol, nodes will refuse to do so. Bitcoin’s decentralization is its greatest strength, and no one, not even BlackRock or Michael Saylor, can change that.
This article is a take. The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.
