What Does the COMEX, or Better Yet, CRIMEX do?
This week, one of the two coins offered for sale by Silver Shield Coins, is a coin titled CRIMEX. Most silver coin enthusiasts will immediately recognize the thinly veiled reference to the COMEX. For those of you who are new to the silver market, whether as a collector or investor, the COMEX is where the market price for one ounce of silver is determined around the clock.
So why CRIMEX?
Let’s take a look.
COMEX stands for Commodities Exchange. This exchange was established in 1933 when multiple commodities exchanges, including National Raw Silk Exchange, Rubber Exchange of New York, National Metal Exchange and the New York Hide Exchange, were merged into one entity. As silk, rubber and hides lessened in demand, the COMEX became the leading establishment for trading silver, gold and copper futures.
In 1994 the COMEX merged with the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX). NYMEX was founded in 1872 by dairy merchants as the Butter and Cheese Exchange in New York. This exchange had gradually moved into the energy sector and was, by 1994, wealthier than the COMEX due to a boom in energy trading. Their merger created the largest physical commodity exchange in history.
In 2008 the financial crisis undermined the NYMEX and it was no longer able to survive on its own in the fallout after the crash. As a direct result, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group (CME), which had been taken public in 2002, took over NYMEX. This merger expanded the number of metals available for trade. The list still included silver, gold and copper but now it also included aluminum, platinum, palladium, cobalt and lithium among others. These metals were further divided into categories and defined as precious metals, industrial metals and ESG-related (Environmental, Social and Governance) mined products.
NYMEX thus became a subsidiary of CME Group thereby consolidating the two leading derivative and commodities exchanges into one. This merger enhanced CME’s ability to offer a wider range of products to its members across differing asset classes.
Today the COMEX is owned by CME Group and it contends that its primary goal is to furnish its members with a well-regulated, and fully-transparent, market for trading metal options and futures.
Other recent Silver Shield Proof Round releases
But, for many, especially silver investors, this is just smoke and mirrors. Prior to the 20th century the gold to silver ratio, which reflected how many ounces of silver was needed to equal the value of one ounce of gold, remained relatively stable at 15:1 or lower. But, since the gold standard was abandoned by most countries in the 1970s the price of gold has outpaced silver despite the fact that, unlike silver, gold is primarily used as jewelry. Since the 1970s, the long-average gold to silver ratio, became 60:1 as silver has literally lost its momentum when compared to gold. Today, it 88:1.
But, how can this possibly be the case when the industrial demand for silver has skyrocketed during the last 50 years? There are now 10,000 industrial uses for silver including water purification, photography, solar energy, mirrors, batteries, TV screens, circuit boards, spark plugs, jet engines, bandages, catheters, breathing tubes, surgical tools and other medical devices. Silver is used in electrical equipment such as conductors, switches, contacts and fuses. It is the most conductive metal in existence and is also used as chemical-producing catalysts, dental alloys, solder and brazing alloys. The car industry alone uses 36 million ounces of silver annually!
And yet, the price of silver remains floating around $27 per ounce, which is well below its historical average. How can that be possible when the demand for silver continues to rise?
The only logical answer is that the price of silver is being manipulated from behind the scenes.
But by who? Let’s see…..
The COMEX is owned by CME Group, and CME Group’s largest investors are Capital Research and Management Company, Michael C. Gitlin CEO, BlackRock, Larry Fink, Founder and CEO and Vanguard Group, Salim Ramji CEO and former member Global Executive Committee of Blackrock. Top 51% of ownership is controlled by 19 shareholders. 58% of the company’s stock is owned by institutional investors and 41% is owned by public companies and they all know each other. Manipulation possible?
Ok, now let’s look at who’s got all of the silver bullion that’s backing all the silver trades on the COMEX?
Well, what there is of it, sits in 6 or 7 Depositories including Fort Knox and J. P. Morgan Bank. They all know each other too.
But, the reality is that it doesn’t matter how much silver bullion that there is in vaults, or how much is mined, because most trades take place on the CRIMEX’ paper silver market, which is highly leveraged. In fact, some estimates suggest that there are 400 ounces of paper silver, including certificates, options and ETFs (Exchange-Traded Funds which they claim saves you from having to buy, store or protect silver bullion – HA!), for every ounce of physical silver above ground! Manipulation possible?
In addition, the CRIMEX silver stockpiles reached a peak in 2021 of 400 million ounces. But today, it’s just 281 million ounces. Can you explain why silver is the only commodity on earth that isn’t affected by basic economic law of supply and demand? Manipulation possible?
The answer is yes, yes, yes!
But the good news is that the manipulators can’t perpetuate this scheme forever. It WILL blow up! And when it does, silver investors will be sitting in the catbird seat and will see massive profits on their investment as silver prices rise to legitimate levels. For others who are just entering the world of silver, you better take advantage of the current, and artificially low, prices of silver and build up your stockpiles of physical silver NOW!
Silver Shield coins have an added numismatic value that is missing from the remainder of the physical silver you can buy. It’s the icing on the cake.
So, just remember, when the bubble bursts, and it will, your family will thank you for your foresight in buying physical silver today.
