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After staying dormant since June 2022, Elon Musk’s Tesla transferred its entire Bitcoin stash valued at over $760 million to multiple new wallet addresses, raising the possibility the electric car maker is selling.
The potential sale of these coins could negatively impact the market as Tesla is currently the fourth-largest Bitcoin holder among publicly listed U.S. companies, only behind Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy and BTC mining companies MARA Holdings and Riot Platforms.
Tesla Conducts First BTC Transactions In Two Years
Onchain data by analytics firm Arkham Intelligence shows that Tesla moved roughly $765 million worth of Bitcoin — all but about $6.68 worth — to unknown wallets in a series of transactions on Oct. 15.
TESLA MOVING BITCOIN FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 2 YEARS pic.twitter.com/yN6QbBkUtm
— Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) October 15, 2024
Arkham noted that these are “likely” new wallets that still belong to Tesla, suggesting the move could simply be internal account shuffling — so there’s no immediate indication that Tesla is planning to dump the Bitcoin. Moreover, the wallets are not associated with crypto exchanges and Tesla has not publicly announced plans to offload its BTC.
Tesla’s Bitcoin stash has remained untouched since June 17, 2022. The transactions on Tuesday mark the first time the EV maker is interacting with its Bitcoin wallets since it liquidated the lion’s share of its BTC stockpile back in 2022.
Tesla’s Mixed Relationship With Bitcoin
Tesla sent shockwaves in the investment world when it purchased a staggering $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin in February 2021. The gargantuan investment propelled the price of BTC to new highs and triggered a bullish narrative about wider corporate adoption of Bitcoin.
Yet, Tesla went on to sell 10% of its BTC holdings in the first quarter of 2021 as it supposedly wanted to confirm whether BTC could be liquidated easily without sparking significant market volatility, as per its CEO Elon Musk.
Tesla briefly accepted Bitcoin as payment for Tesla cars in March 2021 but quickly reversed the decision two months later, citing environmental concerns. Musk, a prominent proponent of the OG meme coin Dogecoin (DOGE), posited in 2021 that the carmaker would consider restarting Bitcoin payments once a majority of the BTC mining industry becomes greener. Tesla has yet to do so.
Meanwhile, Musk’s space exploration company SpaceX, still holds $554 million worth of BTC on its balance sheet, making it the seventh-biggest Bitcoin holder among private firms.