Tesla Still Owns $780 Million in Bitcoin After Suspicious Move
Tesla's large transactions have raised concerns about a potential Bitcoin sell-off, but data from Arkham suggests the assets remain under the company's control.
Elon Musk's electric car giant Tesla may still own $780 million in Bitcoin, despite moving all of its assets to a new wallet on October 15, according to Arkham Intelligence.
Arkham said on October 22:
"We believe Tesla's asset transfers last week were simply wallet transfers, and the Bitcoin remains in their possession."
As reported from Arkham, Tesla has just split 11,509 Bitcoin into 7 different wallet addresses, each holding between 1,100 and 2,200 BTC. The wallets "1Fnhp" and "1LERL" received the most Bitcoin, worth $142.2 million and $128.1 million, respectively.
This is also the first time Tesla has interacted with its Bitcoin wallets since liquidating 75% of these assets in mid-2022 due to the crypto market crash.
Tesla's unusual transactions have raised concerns that the giant will dump Bitcoin on the market, causing panic among the public. However, data from Arkham shows that these wallets have not generated any Bitcoin transactions since October 15.
Bitcoin price has also been "indifferent", even increasing by 5% immediately after, reaching $69,220 on October 21. At the time of writing, BTC price has slightly decreased by 2.5% to around $67,243.
While it’s unclear what the purpose is, some speculate the Bitcoin could be moved to a custodian, potentially allowing Elon Musk’s company to borrow against the Bitcoin.
Tesla is using Coinbase Prime Custody to store Bitcoin. We may learn more about the “truth” in Tesla’s Q3/2024 financial report, which is expected to be released after the October 23 trading session.
If the hypothesis holds, Elon Musk’s company will retain its position as the fourth largest Bitcoin holder in the world, behind only MicroStrategy, Marathon Digital, and Riot Platforms, according to data from Bitcoin Treasuries.
Tesla first bought Bitcoin in February 2021, with a total value of $1.5 billion. CEO Elon Musk accepted Bitcoin as a payment method for company cars in March 2021, only to reverse the decision a few weeks later.
Earlier in 2024, on-chain data analytics firm Arkham tracked all of Elon Musk’s businesses’ Bitcoin wallets, showing that Tesla now owns 11,509 BTC, while SpaceX holds 8,285. BTC, equivalent to $553 million. The spacecraft manufacturing company also ranks 7th on the list of private companies holding the most Bitcoin today.
