Bitcoin's 21 million fixed supply is anchored into its source code and cannot change. However, there are a few unlikely scenarios where that could change.
These scenarios include a hard fork, a protocol change, technical error, a quantum computing breakthrough, and external influences such as governments.
BlackRock, a major player in the financial industry, is creating a wrapped Bitcoin product and could attempt to fork the Bitcoin chain, creating an institutional-based Bitcoin.
Institutional liquidity is important for Bitcoin, but most holders and nation-states like El Salvador are likely to prefer the original, decentralized version of Bitcoin.
Wrapped Bitcoin products like cbBTC, wBTC, tBTC, or SolvBTC could introduce the risk of more wrapped Bitcoin in the market than Bitcoin held as collateral for it.
A new chain becoming the “new” Bitcoin is possible but unlikely. It would require many different parties, including users, developers, miners, and nodes, to agree to change which chain is the real Bitcoin.
Overall, the original Bitcoin chain and its 21 million fixed supply are safe, but it's worth being aware of these potential risks in the crypto market.
This information shared by Altcoin Buzz is for educational, entertainment, and informational purposes only. It is not financial advice, and we are not responsible for any investment losses incurred by readers.