Arthur Hayes believes that major financial institutions like BlackRock gaining excessive weight in the market with the acceptance of a potential Bitcoin ETF could threaten Bitcoin’s independent nature. According to him, excessive growth of the BlackRock ETF could prevent Bitcoin from differentiating itself from a central currency.
Hayes points out that with the acceptance of ETFs, the influence of major financial institutions over mining operations could increase, and thereby they could gain more control over the Bitcoin network. This control might affect the consensus mechanisms of the Bitcoin network, shaking its independent and decentralized structure.
“You can’t actually use the Bitcoin. It’s a financial asset. It’s not the actual bitcoin itself. You had some fiat, you bought this derivative. The asset manager went and bought some Bitcoin and they put it in a custodian and it sits there. If the BlackRock ETF gets too big. It could actually kill Bitcoin because it’s just a bunch of immovable bitcoin that’s just sitting there.”
While Hayes acknowledges that widespread adoption of Bitcoin is likely to increase its price, he worries that this could negatively affect Bitcoin’s practical use. If Bitcoin becomes concentrated in the hands of a few institutions, the opportunities for real users could be limited, leading to a deviation from Bitcoin’s fundamental purposes.
Source: Blockworks
