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Elon Musk’s Tesla has moved its Bitcoin stash to new addresses, sparking speculation that the electric vehicle company is looking to dump the premier crypto asset.
Blockchain data platform sourced by Arkham Intelligence drew attention to Tesla’s recent on-chain activity after over two years of dormancy.
The on-chain analysis shows that wallets tied to the car manufacturing company moved all its Bitcoin holdings to new addresses, sparking speculations of an alleged sale. Tesla moved 11,509 BTC, valued at $773 million at the time, to new wallets by 21:30 UTC on Tuesday.
Is Elon Musk Selling?
Although neither Tesla nor Elon Musk have commented on the latest transfer, widespread speculation has it that they could be selling their Bitcoin stash. Notably, the late October 15 transfer is Tesla’s first on-chain Bitcoin transfer since early 2022.
Tesla became one of the largest public companies holding Bitcoin when it acquired $1.5 billion worth of the asset in February 2021. The firm noted then that the acquisition was part of its broader plan to obtain and hold the firstborn crypto asset as a long-term investment.
However, Elon Musk’s Tesla sold 85% of the stash a year later at a loss. The car company sold 10% in the first quarter of 2022 and the other 75% in July that year. Notably, Bitcoin was trading around $23,000 at the time.
The latest shuffle came after Tesla confirmed in a recent financial statement that it still held its 11,509 BTC. If the transaction were a sale, the company would incur a profit of $515 million.
Meanwhile, the potential sales would come as a shock to the crypto community, considering Elon Musk’s pedigree as a crypto advocate. The SpaceX founder has long been an admirer cryptocurrencies, especially Dogecoin.
In an interview in July, Musk stated that Bitcoin and some other cryptocurrencies could have “some merits” but noted that his soft spot remains with the meme coin Doegecoin. Notably, his incessant admission that he admired the dog-themed token saw him embroidered in a lawsuit with aggrieved investors.
CryptoQuant CEO Says No Market Impact
Amidst the heated speculations, CryptoQuant’s CEO, Ki Young Ju, has insisted that the alleged sales would not impact the market. In a tweet, Ju noted that even if the latest shuffle were a sale, it would not affect Bitcoin’s price.
Tesla moved #Bitcoin to other wallets.
It’s still unclear if it's internal shuffling or selling.
Even if they sold, the impact would be slightly more than half of the German govt’s. Their realized profit was $816M, while Tesla’s is $515M as of today. pic.twitter.com/tbIphukzkw
— Ki Young Ju (@ki_young_ju) October 16, 2024
The CEO based his arguments on the fact that the market absorbed the selling pressure from the German government pretty well. For context, the German government sold 50,000 BTC seized from the Movie2k.to operators in June.
Ju stated that the German government realized $816 million from the sales, which was well below Tesla’s $515 million gains from its stash. Hence, he expects the market to absorb the sales well.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin was trading at $66,870, down less than 1% in the past 24 hours at the time of writing.