Imagine a huge company like BlackRock, a giant in the financial world, trying to take control of Bitcoin. That's the worry of Vlad Costea, who hosts a podcast called "Bitcoin Takeover."
Costea thinks that these big institutions could essentially create their own version of Bitcoin and try to convince everyone that their version is the "real" one. How? By grabbing the well-known "BTC" ticker, which is the symbol you see for Bitcoin's price.
He points out that the "BTC" symbol isn't legally tied to the original Bitcoin. This means a powerful group with a lot of money could make a new version, call it "BTC," and then push it hard. Costea compares this to what happened with Ethereum years ago, where a newer version ended up with the main "ETH" symbol.
This "takeover" could involve paying people to use their new Bitcoin, faking activity on its network, and then loudly declaring it the "true Bitcoin." Costea believes this is more likely to happen as Bitcoin becomes more mainstream and less about its original idea of being a permissionless and unstoppable digital cash. He's concerned that if Bitcoin becomes just another "stock" for big investors, it loses its core value, making it easier for someone to hijack its brand.