On-chain sleuths say they have discovered wallets containing the Bitcoin holdings of Elon Musk-owned firms Tesla and SpaceX, which collectively hold well over a billion dollars worth of the world’s top cryptocurrency.
In a report published Thursday, Arkham Intelligence outlined its discovery of over $771 million worth of BTC held in wallets belonging to Tesla. Wallets linked to SpaceX, meanwhile, contained some $555 million in BTC.
Arkham’s analysis also gives a detailed history of the companies’ Bitcoin transaction history stretching back to early 2021.
During the onset of the last crypto winter in May 2022, for example, as the price of cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin began to fall precipitously, both Tesla and SpaceX sold off hundreds of millions of dollars worth of BTC. Those sales incurred a net loss for SpaceX; Tesla broke more or less even.
SpaceX’s Bitcoin position did not return to the black until this November, around when the coin began its ongoing bull run. Since November, BTC’s price has almost doubled, from around $35,000 to $67,820 at writing.
SpaceX now stands at a $132 million BTC profit, according to Arkham. Tesla is $455 million in the black.
While it had previously been known that both Musk-owned companies owned sizable Bitcoin positions, the extent of those holdings—assuming the accuracy of Arkham’s findings—had been underestimated.
In January, for instance, analysts at Bitcoin Treasuries concluded that Tesla held around 9,720 BTC. Arkham’s analysts found that figure to instead be 11,509 BTC. While Musk has stated previously that SpaceX owned some Bitcoin, the size of the spacecraft manufacturer’s BTC investment was unknown.
The billionaire has a long and bumpy track record of attempting to integrate cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin into the functioning of his companies. In March 2021, Tesla began accepting Bitcoin as a method of payment for new car purchases. The program was permanently discontinued less than two months later, with Musk citing concerns related to the environmental impact of Bitcoin mining.
Edited by Andrew Hayward
