Interesting theory, but Ken has already stated that it was "because of the merger" and not because of the reasons outlined above, leaving me to wonder how a merger magically creates money
The merger has the effect of killing the growth fund "shares" and "rules", so any
BTC there can be used. Remember that the growth fund has been receiving around 85% of all dividends since mining started.
Using the movements from
https://blockchain.info/address/1DJpsvnM7xTnQbWEhLYyCyfxQyxwupEzCa my estimate is that the growth fund has currently around
BTC(262-8-80-22)*.85 =
BTC129 less any expenses paid from those.