Elon Musk’s Tesla has transferred all its 11,509 BTC, valued at approximately $760 million, to unknown addresses, according to Arkham Intelligence data.
TESLA JUST MOVED ANOTHER $260M BTC
TOTAL MOVED: $760M pic.twitter.com/ukAcHW1EZC
— Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) October 15, 2024
According to BitcoinTreasuries, the electric vehicle manufacturer is the fourth-largest corporate holder of the leading cryptocurrency, with 9720 BTC attributed to the company.
In February 2021, it was revealed that Tesla had invested $1.5 billion in bitcoin. Musk described these investments as “fairly risky.”
Later that year, the firm began accepting bitcoin for car purchases but subsequently discontinued this option.
By the end of the second quarter of 2022, Tesla had converted approximately 75% of its cryptocurrency holdings into fiat, yielding $936 million. The profit from this operation amounted to $64 million. Considering a negative revaluation of bitcoin holdings amounting to $204 million, the firm reported a net loss of $140 million.
One user speculated that the recent cryptocurrency transfers by the company are related to a shift towards self-custody. He noted that the format of the new addresses suggests this.
This is not selling, it is more likely taking direct custody of the coins, which would signal a reactivation of btc payments.
The tell is the legacy address format, which exchanges don’t use anymore for coins that are going to be tx’ed in the near term.
— Trygg.btc ??♂️ (@TryggBTC) October 15, 2024
“This is not selling,” he confidently stated.
According to Arkham, Coinbase Prime Custody served as the custodian for Tesla’s bitcoin reserves.
Musk’s space company, SpaceX, continues to hold 8285 BTC in the service’s wallets.
In January 2024, during a podcast with ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood, the entrepreneur admitted that among cryptocurrencies, he personally owns only “a large amount of Dogecoin.”
In February, SpaceX accepted payment in the meme coin for launching the DOGE-1 satellite into space.