Silver ETFs: The Trojan Horse Killing the Physical Market

If you bought SLV and think you own silver, I’ve got some swamp land in Phoenix to sell you.

Wall Street’s favorite trick is convincing retail they have exposure to a commodity, while selling them a derivative so diluted it actually suppresses the price of the real thing. Nowhere is this more obvious than in silver ETFs.

These “investment vehicles” don’t hold silver for your benefit. They exist to soak up demand that would otherwise hit the physical market — and they help the big banks keep spot prices in check.

SLV isn’t a silver investment. It’s a silver containment strategy.

SLV: The Illusion of Ownership

Let’s get one thing straight — SLV is run by BlackRock, and their custodian is JPMorgan, the same bank fined over $920 million for metals market manipulation in 2020.

According to SLV’s own prospectus:

“Authorized Participants may redeem baskets of shares for cash, not physical silver.”

Translation: you can’t get bars. You get dollars. Even the APs (large financial entities) rarely request metal — and you, the retail holder? You’ll never touch an ounce.

[Source: ETF Prospectuses, July 2025]

PSLV lets you redeem for physical if you hold enough. SLV? Never.

The SLV Inventory Mystery

In early 2021, after the Reddit silver squeeze, SLV “added” 110 million ounces in a week — on paper. No independent audit. No vault video. Just a spreadsheet.

Where did that silver come from?

Short answer: it didn’t. Multiple refiners and wholesale dealers confirmed no physical bars changed hands in that timeframe. The custodians just booked the silver. The market was gaslit into believing demand was met.

Even today, SLV claims to hold over 450 million ounces. But the same bars are often listed in both COMEX and LBMA reports — duplicate accounting that no regulator questions.

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The Real Purpose of Silver ETFs

Let’s stop pretending these ETFs were designed for investor convenience. They were engineered to:

1. Absorb retail demand that would otherwise buy coins and bars.
2. Create a synthetic supply buffer that mutes upward price pressure.
3. Enable naked shorting by allowing big banks to hedge ETF inflows with futures shorts.

The net result? Prices stay suppressed. Retail feels “allocated.” COMEX survives another month.

It’s a brilliant fraud. And it works — until the public asks for bars.

Schiff’s Take: If You Can’t Touch It, You Don’t Own It

Peter Schiff has warned for years: “Paper silver isn’t silver.”

You either own physical metal, stored and verifiable, or you’re a counterparty risk holder. SLV is the worst of both worlds — no physical, no delivery, and no guarantee the metal is even there.

Meanwhile, JPMorgan hedges your “ownership” by shorting futures, driving the price against your position.

You didn’t invest in silver. You invested in a rigged casino.

The ETF Drain Game

Here’s what’s happening under the hood:

• Retail buys SLV shares thinking they’re stacking
• APs create new SLV shares, supposedly backed by metal
• JPMorgan hedges by shorting futures — pushing spot down
• Premiums on real silver go up, but SLV price stays suppressed
• Retail gives up, sells ETF — and nothing physical moves

[Sources: ETF disclosures, LBMA, CME, Sprott]

This is a system designed to look full while draining supply behind the scenes.

The Only Real Silver ETFs

If you absolutely must use a financial product, PSLV (Sprott Physical Silver Trust) is the only option that allows:

• Verified audits
• Physical bar redemption
• Canadian storage outside JPM/LBMA system
• No derivatives exposure

But even then — if you want zero counterparty risk, you need coins, bars, and direct vault access.

Silver Eyes in the Sky: WW1 Era Photography Ignites Industrial Consumption of Silver

WWI’s aerial photography spurred unprecedented industrial silver consumption. “Silver eyes in the sky” capturing war photos radically shifted silver from useless to a critical industrial commodity, forever changing global resource demand.

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What Happens When Confidence Breaks?

The moment institutional or sovereign players start questioning the SLV narrative, the illusion unravels.

All it takes is:

• A whistleblower
• A failed redemption
• A vault audit refusal
• Or a major sovereign fund shifting to PSLV or physical

And the cascade begins. SLV price disconnects from physical. COMEX sees delivery demand. Spot detaches. Premiums explode.

Retail rushes in — and there’s no metal left.

Silver Iodide in Cloud Seeding: From Cold War Weather Experiments to Global Applications

Over the full history of cloud seeding, the cumulative amount of silver iodide used is substantial. At a few metric tons per year in the U.S. and similar levels elsewhere, it is likely that hundreds of tons of silver have been released into the skies worldwide since the 1940s.

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Don't Buy Fake Silver!

Silver ETFs are Wall Street’s cage for the silver bull. They exist to redirect demand, suppress price, and protect COMEX.

If you want exposure to silver’s upside, don’t buy into their trap.

If you want to survive the coming silver squeeze, get out of paper. Get physical. Get informed.

Start at SilverWars.com. Where silver isn’t just a ticker — it’s a battle plan.