since ted butler started a subscription service, he normally doesn't post his work any longer. but he considered this development to be important enough to post it in the public domain:

The frequent complaints to the CFTC about the outsized short position and obvious manipulative trading activities on the COMEX were rebuffed by the Commission because Bear Stearns, like AIG before them, could show on paper that they had existing OTC offsets with China that “backed” the COMEX short positions. As has been shown in other financial scandals, like the Madoff swindle, bureaucrat regulators are often no match for well-connected and persuasive Wall Street power brokers.

When Bear Stearns collapsed in March 2008 (incidentally at the then-highest price for silver in decades - $21), there was no one willing to take over their giant COMEX silver short position and the offsetting Chinese OTC contracts. Enter JPMorgan Chase. Remember, this was a time of great stress to the financial system and all efforts were directed to quickly fixing problems that arose. The giant silver short position at Bear Stearns was one such problem. With federal government guarantees against loss and criminal prosecution, JPMorgan did assume the role of master of the silver market. All this was revealed in subsequent Bank Participation Reports and in correspondence from the CFTC to various lawmakers. Since that time, JPMorgan has managed the giant silver short position. My speculation includes that Morgan has quietly offset its COMEX short position over the past year and a half with other unsuspecting parties in the OTC market.

What does this all mean and where do we go from here? Get ready for great and growing price volatility. I’ll have specific market comments for subscribers over the next couple of days, once the new COT and Bank Participation Reports are released.(at www.butlerresearch.com) But this much is clear – the long anticipated default of the massive OTC silver derivatives position by China appears to be at hand. It’s hard to imagine a more profound event. All at once, the backing and excuse for the concentrated short position on the COMEX is exposed for the fraud it has always been. No longer can the CFTC pretend that the COMEX silver short position is backed by anything legitimate. Not when China, itself, is saying it may default. So many game changes have emerged in silver over the past few months that it is hard to appreciate them all. These recent announcements by China concerning its future intentions on select OTC commodity derivatives could be the most important of all.

http://news.silverseek.com/TedButler/1252075929.php

chris powell of gata was more direct and to the point:

I think it's an indication that China has realized that the New York investment houses are basically organized crime syndicates and [they're] selling paper instruments of no value that really only enrich the N.Y. investment houses themselves, so if anyone ripped them off, we would not be too unhappy about it.