I'm not any sort of expert in this, but my guesses / thoughts.
  • I think it is illegal for an ETF issuer to take any sort of position for/against their customer holdings. I remember reading that somewhere in early BTC ETF days. Thus, seems unlikely they would take that risk on...
  • Moreover, the idea that they would "short BTC" after a customer buys means that they would be using their own funds to do that. I think such ideas misjudge who Blackrock is and how they operate....In general they always use "OPM" (Other Peoples Money). Why would they ever risk their own capital? They earn free money from customer fees, this makes no sense.
  • ETF Issuers are paid via percentage of AUM. Therefore forcing people out of investment isn't in Blackrocks self-interest (ie. dumping price would cause people to not invest in BTC ETF).
  • A huge pump would be the absolute best sales campaign for BTC ETF's -- and Blackrock being largest issuer would stand to gain the most.
I'm no fan of WallStreet much less Blackrock but I doubt they are shorting BTC directly.
Having said that its quite possible other customers of Blackrock are shorting and using Blackrocks infrastructure to do it....however well thats no different than anything else in investment world. Customer A buys large amount of Microsoft, Customer B thinks its a bad move and shorts Microsoft....welcome to markets..
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