I would say it was the users. The price told the story where the future of bitcoin was going. Any fork of bitcoin increasing the future cap will also go the same way, people will hoard the most scarce and valuable and sell the less scarce.
Discussion
Cap was never in question, separate issue entirely
Cap is always in question when you lose decentralisation. It was in question then, it’s in question now and will be in question in the future. What many Bitcoiners don’t get is that with Bitcoin there is no point where “it has won”. There is only “it won for now”. Freedom and sovereignty require constant vigilance. You make too many compromises for long enough and eventually you end up under someone’s foot.
Largely agree with the second part but I don’t think there has ever been a serious proposal with legs about changing 21 million