Robert Kiyosaki Claims BlackRock Manipulated Bitcoin Price and Suppressed it Below $100k

Robert Kiyosaki’s recent allegations against BlackRock, accusing the firm of manipulating Bitcoin’s price to benefit institutional investors, demand scrutiny. He asserted that CEO Larry Fink intentionally suppresses the price of BTC below $100,000.

While Kiyosaki’s claims lack concrete evidence, the opacity surrounding BlackRock’s Bitcoin holdings fuels speculation. BlackRock’s confirmation, via Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas, that they operate their own Bitcoin node and share wallet balances and addresses with institutional clients upon request, raises questions about transparency.

BlackRock Allegedly Use Coinbase For Custody

The inherent transparency of the Bitcoin blockchain itself presents a paradox. Anyone with the right tools can theoretically verify transactions and balances, but the lack of publicly available BlackRock wallet addresses hinders this verification. The reliance on client requests for validation highlights the limitations of utilizing this public ledger for independent verification of BlackRock’s holdings.

Furthermore, the situation is further complicated by the reported use of Coinbase for custody, which, while potentially offering an indirect verification route through Coinbase’s reporting (assuming such information is shared with clients), remains an indirect and incomplete solution.

BlackRock’s public statements, while acknowledging their involvement in the Bitcoin market through products like the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), offer little in the way of specific holding details. Official reports, press releases, and regulatory filings, while subject to scrutiny and potentially revealing indirect validation, typically focus on aggregate asset management figures rather than granular holdings.

Market Analyst Speculations

Third-party analytics firms, specializing in on-chain data analysis, offer a potential, albeit speculative, avenue for investigating BlackRock’s Bitcoin holdings. While direct access to BlackRock’s wallet addresses remains elusive, substantial movements or significant holdings might be discernible through sophisticated blockchain analysis.

However, without corroborating information from BlackRock or Coinbase, such analyses remain inherently speculative and prone to interpretation.

Moreover, the regulatory oversight inherent in the crypto ETF landscape, particularly concerning products like IBIT, introduces a layer of accountability. The scrutiny applied by regulatory bodies, such as the SEC, necessitates a level of auditing and verification, although this does not translate to public access to precise holding details. This regulatory oversight serves as a crucial safeguard, albeit indirectly, against potential manipulation and provides a degree of assurance regarding the integrity of BlackRock’s reported holdings.