Soft Manipulation: How BlackRock Triggers MicroStrategy to Sell Off Bitcoin

It's been a turbulent start to the week in crypto markets. Bitcoin has seen a sharp drop since Monday, triggered by a major sell-off that can be traced back to Wall Street giant BlackRock.

Analyst ardizor compared the facts and came to the conclusion that it is profitable for the corporation to create panic in the market in order to gain access to cheap BTC.

ardizor points out that BlackRock sold BTC worth about $500 million in one day, which once again drew attention to the role of the largest institutional investor in the crypto market.

BlackRock Bitcoin Selloff

According to SEC filings (Schedule 13G), BlackRock officially owns over 11.2 million shares of MicroStrategy (Strategy), or about 5% of the company. Given that MicroStrategy is the largest Bitcoin investor among public companies whose reserves are concentrated exclusively in the cryptocurrency, such influence from an institutional investor becomes strategically significant.

Strategy is effectively vulnerable to external pressure. A fall in its stock price could lead to tougher terms from creditors and demands for debt repayment. The company's only liquid asset is Bitcoin, which could force MicroStrategy to sell off massively if necessary.

Earlier, the BeInCrypto editorial board wrote that the company's new strategy could lead to dilution of shares. The result of such an approach could be a decrease in investor confidence in Strategy and even a sell-off of cryptocurrency. ardizor believes that BlackRock could take advantage of the company's position. Here is the plan of action he describes in his X:

• artificial dump of BTC followed by panic (FUD) in the media;
• pressure on MicroStrategy and forced sales;
• Bitcoin buyback at minimum levels.

This strategy appears to be effective: by triggering short-term sell-offs, BlackRock is able to buy cryptocurrency at a much lower price.

Such manipulations, the author points out, also pose threats to BlackRock. The company manages assets worth trillions of dollars, and the loss of investor confidence in the event of open manipulations could undermine its position. Therefore, ardizor is sure that the managers act “softly”: through relatively small sales, escalating the information background and targeted buyback of BTC.

BlackRock controls about 3.5% of the world's Bitcoin supply through ETFs. At first glance, this is not much, but if the current tactics and rate of reserve growth are maintained, the share may grow to 7-10%. MicroStrategy controls about 2.9% of the cryptocurrency emission.

According to ardizor, BlackRock is not aiming to bring down MicroStrategy, but is simply practicing mechanisms to control the market. For retail investors, this could be an opportunity to make money if they can recognize patterns in the actions of institutional investors.

The ardizor scenario assumes that after short-term sales, the market will receive an impulse for growth, and already in October-December, the historical maximum of the Bitcoin price may be updated.

Source: cryptonews.net