Recently, BlackRock released an educational video explaining Bitcoin, which I thought was great—it’s amazing to see Bitcoin being discussed on such a massive platform. But, of course, Bitcoin X (Twitter) had a meltdown over one specific line in the video: “There is no guarantee that Bitcoin’s 21 million supply cap will not be changed.”

HealthRnager from Natural News claimed, “Bitcoin has become far too centralized, and now the wrong people largely control its algorithms. They are TELLING you in advance what they plan to do.”

Now, let me be clear: this is total nonsense. The controversy is overhyped, and the idea that BlackRock would—or even could—change bitcoin’s supply is laughable. The statement in their video is technically true, but it’s just a legal disclaimer. It doesn’t mean BlackRock is plotting to inflate bitcoin’s supply. And even if they were, they don’t have the power to pull it off.

Bitcoin’s 21 million cap is fundamental—it’s not up for debate. The entire Bitcoin ecosystem—miners, developers, and nodes—operates on this core principle. Without it, Bitcoin wouldn’t be Bitcoin. And while BlackRock is a financial giant and holds over 500,000 Bitcoin for its ETF, its influence over Bitcoin is practically nonexistent.

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 hold the real power.

Let’s play devil’s advocate for a second. Say BlackRock tries to propose a protocol change to increase bitcoin’s supply. What happens? The vast network of nodes would simply reject it. Bitcoin’s history proves this. Remember Roger Ver and the Bitcoin Cash fork? He had significant influence and holdings, yet his version of bitcoin became irrelevant because the majority of economic actors didn’t follow him.

If Bitcoin could be controlled by a single entity like BlackRock, it would’ve failed a long time ago. The U.S. government, with its endless money printer, could easily acquire 10% of the supply if that’s all it took to control Bitcoin. But that’s not how Bitcoin works. Its decentralized nature ensures no single entity—no matter how powerful—can dictate its terms.

So, stop worrying about BlackRock “changing” Bitcoin. Their influence has hard limits. Even if they tried to push developers to change the protocol, nodes would reject it. Bitcoin’s decentralization is its greatest strength, and no one—not BlackRock, not Michael Saylor—can change that.

This article is a Take. Opinions expressed are entirely the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.

Yesterday, BlackRock released a new video aimed at educating people interested in Bitcoin on the asset class.

The video is quite good, honestly. I think they took inspiration from Saifedean Ammous’ book “The Bitcoin Standard,” which discusses the history of money from the beginning of time and how it has changed and evolved throughout history.

Launched in January, IBIT has now topped $50 Billion in assets as investors are increasingly using the ETP to get efficient exposure to bitcoin’s price. Yet many investors are still relatively new to the digital assets space. For those looking to learn more about what bitcoin is… pic.twitter.com/8wh9CW0xYa

— Jay Jacobs (@JayJacobsCFA) December 17, 2024

Seeing this type of educational Bitcoin content from a $11.5 trillion asset manager is something that I think will really resonate with their target audiences.

Watching the video, there was one moment in particular that stood out to me. BlackRock was highlighting where Bitcoin is today and said, “Bitcoin is no longer seen as the radical idea it was 15 years ago. Over 500 million people around the world now use cryptocurrency, with over 50% holding or investing in Bitcoin.”

That right there screams to me that Bitcoin is becoming recognized as a legit and established asset class in the eyes of the financial elite, and then eventually the mainstream.

In the early days, Bitcoin really was such a radical new idea that probably 99% of people could not conceptualize. However, over time, Bitcoin has proven itself time and time again to be a legit asset and people are now interested in embracing this new form of money. It feels like there has been a sincere paradigm shift and that we are slowly, but surely, leaving the point in history where the majority of people think Bitcoin is a scam and bad for any other generic FUD that has already been thoroughly debunked.

With that being said, I’m not saying everyone is on the verge of becoming a bitcoin maximalist or anything, but I do think that more and more people are becoming accepting to the fact that Bitcoin is here to stay and that it’s not going anywhere — which I would think eventually leads to people saying “I should probably own some bitcoin then.”

This isn’t just anyone saying Bitcoin is becoming a legit asset, this is the world’s largest asset manager. BlackRock is putting their reputation behind Bitcoin and projecting confidence in the long-term success of it. And so far it has been an amazing play by them embracing Bitcoin, with their spot Bitcoin ETF being the most successful ETF launch in history.

When they speak highly of a potentially profitable investment, people listen. I think in particular, the wealthy and accredited investors are the first to take notice and advantage of BlackRock’s signalling here. Eventually this will be followed by retail investors.

I believe Bitcoin is set to enter an entirely new paradigm unlike anything we’ve seen before.

This article is a Take. Opinions expressed are entirely the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.