Quantitative trading giant Jane Street Group has become the largest holder of the world's biggest silver ETF, sparking intense debate over potential market manipulation across cryptocurrency, equities, and commodities. According to its latest 13F filing for Q4 2025, Jane Street added a record 20.6 million shares of BlackRock's iShares Silver Trust (SLV), a staggering 500x increase from the roughly 41,000 shares it held the prior quarter. The position is valued at approximately $1.3 billion to $1.6 billion, placing the firm above BlackRock itself, which added zero new shares, and Morgan Stanley, which sold 3.7 million.
The massive bet has raised structural concerns because over 87% of Jane Street's $662 billion portfolio is held in options, a strategy that profits from creating and trading volatility with massive leverage. Analysts and traders are questioning whether such a concentrated position in a physically backed ETF, combined with this derivatives-heavy approach, could unduly influence price dynamics.
The controversy lands as Jane Street faces formal allegations across three asset classes. Terraform Labs' bankruptcy administrator has sued the firm for alleged insider trading during the 2022 Terra (LUNA) collapse, claiming a Jane Street-linked wallet withdrew 85 million UST from a liquidity pool minutes before Terraform's own $150 million withdrawal. In India, the Securities and Exchange Board (SEBI) accused Jane Street of manipulating the Bank Nifty index and ordered it to deposit roughly $566 million; an appeal hearing was adjourned on February 25, 2026. In crypto, traders have previously accused the firm of executing a daily "10 AM dump" on Bitcoin, a pattern that allegedly ceased after the Terraform lawsuit became public.
Jane Street has denied all claims, calling the Terraform suit "desperate" and "baseless," and maintains it operates as a liquidity provider. The debate intensified as silver prices fell over 30% from a January high near $121 to around $83 on March 3, a 6.6% single-day drop partly driven by broader market stress from U.S.-Israel military strikes on Iran.
Amid the volatility, an anonymous on-chain trader known as "0x007" netted a $2.04 million profit by shorting silver near its top, a move highlighted by blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence. The selloff has rippled through global risk markets, including equities and crypto. No regulator has yet opened a formal investigation into silver market activity related to Jane Street.
