BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, has launched a new ad touting the virtues of Bitcoin, but instead of cheering on the Bitcoin ETF issuer for its efforts, Bitcoin users are not happy.

The video is Found on the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) ETF page On BlackRock's website, he spends three minutes updating viewers on the evolution of money and the key fundamentals of Bitcoin.

One of these is the provision of 21 million stable Bitcoin tokens.

While the video explains the positives of a fixed supply of Bitcoin, the caption simultaneously warns viewers with a disclaimer: “There is no guarantee that the maximum supply of Bitcoin of 21 million will not change.” This is a sore point for Bitcoin hardliners, who regard Bitcoin's fixed supply as an almost sacred principle that guarantees the cryptocurrency's status as "hard money."

The comment stays for about five seconds, eventually disappearing as the narrator explains the benefits of a fixed offer, never addressing potential change. Most cryptocurrency watchers might have missed it if not for MicroStrategy founder and massive Bitcoin bull Michael Saylor Share the video On his X account on Tuesday.

Despite being merely a footnote in the video, crypto watchers have now stuck to the disclaimer and raised alarms.

“This is the problem with commerce,” said co-founder Solana Anatoly Yakovenko He commented on the X, referring to traditional Wall Street finance. “They look at cryptocurrencies as an investment in something external to them,” he said. He then challenged both BlackRock and Saylor to commit to running their own full nodes — that is, the software that runs the Bitcoin network — and ensure that they would only support forks that maintain a constant supply of 21 million.

“They need to become a decentralized network, not investors in it,” Yakovenko said.

Part of the reason this is so upsetting to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency users is that it's not the first time BlackRock has made such a disclaimer. The company included a note in its report June 2023 ETF Deposit Which noted that “a hard fork could alter the source code of the Bitcoin network, including the maximum Bitcoin supply of 21 million.”

Some of the craziest people in crypto immediately began speculating that BlackRock might use its newfound power as one of the world's largest holders of bitcoin to influence changes in the network, including BTC supply.

Yesterday, the author and philosopher commented on the new ad Steve Patterson said on X: “Do you really think your damned little node running on a Raspberry Pi is going to stop Blackrock from uncaping the supply of Bitcoin?”

Are these fears unfounded? Maybe, but this got the Bitcoin community talking, including Blockstream founder Adam Back and early developer Peter Todd (who Recently suggested by HBO It could be Satoshi Nakamoto himself).

A Solid fork It would require a majority of Bitcoin miners, or those who produce blocks and verify transactions, to agree to new supply mechanisms — something that will never happen. However, today Todd reminded the community of that Technically maybe. “Obviously if the community agrees to change the 21 million cap, they can,” he added. Published on X.

However, Bitcoin stakeholders agreeing to change something as fundamental to Bitcoin's core as fixed supply seems to go against the financial incentive that exists to maintain the status quo. So why does BlackRock continue to make it an issue?

In response to criticism regarding the "silence" from Bitcoin OGs regarding BlackRock's perceived wrongdoing, Noon said: “Clearly their lawyers made them write that because they sell investment products and have no control.”