Within twelve hours, BlackRock intends to effect the withdrawal of Bitcoin stored at Coinbase Custody. Meanwhile, there are rumors that Coinbase is manipulating the Bitcoin price. One expert contradicts this.

BlackRock has filed an amendment request for its Bitcoin ETF. In the document states, "Coinbase Custody must process a withdrawal of digital assets from the custodian account to a public blockchain address within 12 hours of receiving a customer instruction." Coinbase is by far the leading custodian for ETFs. Ten of the 11 Bitcoin ETFs hold their BTC at Coinbase, including BlackRock.

Despite huge inflows into Bitcoin ETFs, the price has not risen significantly recently. This is fueling rumors that instead of physical BTC, Coinbase is just buying Bitcoin certificates, so-called IOUs. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong denies this, however. On X, he writes:

"I don't understand what this is about. All ETF Coins we process are ultimately handled on-chain. This is the norm for all of our institutional clients. All funds are processed within about one business day."

ETF expert Eric Balchunas also contradicts these claims. On the platform X writes he: "I understand why these theories exist and why people want to blame the ETFs. Ultimately, it seems inconceivable that the hodlers could be the sellers. But they are. The call comes from within. All the ETFs and BlackRock have done is repeatedly save the Bitcoin price from the abyss."

Since their launch in January, the ETFs have accumulated Bitcoin stocks worth more than $59.2 billion, according to Dune. BlackRock's IBIT remains the largest Bitcoin ETF with a market share of more than 38 percent. The iShares Bitcoin Trust alone holds BTC worth more than $22.5 billion.

Last week, ETFs again posted clear gains. BTC worth $435 million flowed into the funds.