Tesla Moves $765M Worth of Bitcoin for the First Time in Two Years

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

Electric car maker Tesla has transferred its entire stash of Bitcoin, valued at over $760 million, to multiple new wallet addresses, sparking speculation that the company may be planning to sell its digital asset holdings.

The potential sale could significantly impact the market as Tesla is the fourth-largest Bitcoin holder among publicly listed U.S. companies.

Only three entities — Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy and BTC mining companies MARA Holdings and Riot Platforms — hold larger amounts of BTC.

Onchain data 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

According to onchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence, these are likely new wallets that still belong to Tesla, indicating that the move could simply be internal account shuffling.

There is no immediate indication that Tesla is planning to sell its Bitcoin. The wallets are not associated with crypto exchanges and Tesla has not announced any 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 in 2022.

Tesla sent shockwaves in the investment world when it purchased a staggering $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin in Feb. 2021. The gargantuan investment propelled the price of BTC to new highs and sparked 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 not done so yet.

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.