The biggest risk to #Bitcoin that I see with the arrival the #BlackRock ETF is the possibility for BlackRock to influence the outcome of a fork on which side gets to keep the #BTC branding.

It’s undeniable that BlackRock is likely to become one of the largest holder of bitcoins over time. Technically, #crypto exchanges are the ones who get to decide which side gets to keep the #BTC branding during contentious forks. So far, they’ve always assigned the original ticker to whichever side gets the most hash power. That said, if the hash power were to be split evenly exchanges could be in disagreement.

This is highly speculative and hard to pull off but in a scenario of a contentious fork, it’s possible that BlackRock could influence #Coinbase on which side gets the BTC ticker. Considering the size of Coinbase, this could trickle down to other exchanges following this decision. I could also see many other exchanges disagreeing with this decision and assigning the BBR ticker (for Bitcoin BlackRock) to the side supported by BlackRock.

What would need to happen for this scenario to play out?

1) A significant share of BTC held in the BlackRock ETF

2) A controversial fork proposal

3) A contested mining war

I don’t see 2) and 3) as likely but 1) certainly is which open the door to 2) and 3) through manipulation and deception.

Any thoughts?