"Paper Bitcoin": Top Expert Debunks Wild BlackRock Rumor
2024-09-24

Financial titan BlackRock, which controls a total of $9.1 trillion worth of assets under management, has long been a magnet for conspiracy theorists, and its recent Bitcoin ETF has not been spared. 
Recently, several social media posts about BlackRock forcing Coinbase to deposit Bitcoin directly on-chain after suspecting that it was selling "paper BTC" to ETF issuers. 
Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst for Bloomberg, has clarified that BlackRock simply has to reconcile the data on its end. 
The financial behemoth runs its own blockchain node, and it validates the coins held by IBIT by pulling the balances from their addresses on Coinbase Prime, the institutional brokerage arm of the largest US exchange.
BlackRock would be able to show this data to institutional clients upon request. However, it is not publicly available due to concerns over spam. For instance, one of BlackRock's wallets that are linked to its tokenized fund has received NFTs as well as meme coins. 
"Just know that this is not amateur hour, BlackRock has like 500 ETFs which store the holdings with custodians and has been doing this for decades without a hitch," Balchunas noted.
Balchunas has added that BlackRock and other ETF issuers are trusted by advisors since they know for sure that they will not have to deal with another FTX scenario.
"Is 30 years of a pristine record not enough? ETFs are squeaky clean. SBF-free zone," the ETF analyst said in response to a social media who questioned the financial giant's track record. 
Adam Cochran, partner at Cinneamhain Ventures, has explained that the fact that BlackRock and Coinbase are cooperating to push competitive settlement timelines for commodity ETPs is actually "a good thing."