That's been a staple of the tinfoil hat gold bugs for at least 20 years now. Which "bullion banks" are you referring to and what "gold futures contracts" specifically?Apparently, bullion banks have the right to print as many futures gold contracts as they want, even if it isn't backed by anything. And the idea is that if gold goes too high, some of them will go under. So there is a lot of pressure to keep gold futures down, at the very least.