Kind of, but it is not only related to bitcoin. Im not saying that bitcoin is a bad thing, but it is developed by about 1000 peoples and that is nearly the same as it is with fiat. The 21million mark may be correct, but no one has seen or proven that it will stop there or that no one will work arrount that mark. The network is running about 14 years and Nakamoto did not test this for sure. if anyone is willing to explayn or may be also prove that this both points are not an issue, i would like to listen kindly. I could read the code but it is software and as a developer i'm aware that it can be changed at any time.
Discussion
It's hard to explain all of this in a comment, but here are some key points:
- All bitcoins that exist can be audited. The blockchain ist public and mirrored on tens of thousands of nodes.
- The number 21 million is the result of a formula in the bitcoin source code. About every 4 years the amount of new bitcoins is reduced by half... until it reaches 0 in the year 2140. Currently 6.25 Bitcoins are created every 10 minutes. From April 2024 it will only be 3.125.
- You are right, since this formula is in the source anyone could change the number of coins by changing the code. The problem is, that those tens of thousands of nodes running the bitcoin software wouldn't accept these changes, unless you could convince a majority of users to run that new software. So while it is technically possible to change the rules, no one would agree to run this "watered down" version of bitcoin.
- In fact the code of bitcoin has been copied and changed several times already. Those projects are known as Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin SV, ... and don't have much support.