Elon Musk might be busy assisting US president elect Donald Trump in the US Elections 2024 campaign but his company Tesla is busy on another front. Tesla has recently been reportedly transferring its Bitcoin stockpile, which gave rise to many rumours in the crypto market.
Elon Musk’s Tesla Bitcoin transfer left many crypto experts and analysts scratching their heads while investors and traders were seen speculating about how a major selloff by Tesla was on the cards. Tesla quietly shifted Bitcoin tokens worth $765 million recently, according to a report on Yahoo Finance. The latest Bitcoin transfer caught everyone by surprise, and since Tesla hasn’t yet come up with an official statement, crypto enthusiasts are painting all kinds of possible scenarios.
Does Tesla Still Own Transferred Bitcoins?
Arkham Intelligence suggested on Wednesday that despite the recent transfer spree, Elon Musk’s Tesla still owns the tokens. According to the report, the electric car maker still keeps control over Bitcoin tokens worth $780 million despite transferring them to unidentified wallets on October 15, 2024.
Arkham Intelligence said in an X post on October 22, 2024, “We believe that the Tesla wallet movements that we reported last week were wallet rotations with the Bitcoin still owned by Tesla.”
Details of Tesla’s Recent Bitcoin Transfers
On October 15, 2024, Elon Musk’s Tesla transferred 11,509 Bitcoin tokens between seven wallets, Arkham stated. As per the details, the average size of each Bitcoin transfer was between 1,100 BTC and 2,200 BTC. Two wallet addresses, i.e. 2Fnhp and 1LERL, received the biggest batches worth $142.2 million and $128.1 million, respectively, it noted.
Speculations Rife in the Crypto Industry
Keeping in mind the fast-paced nature of the crypto industry, every news and development, whether positive or negative, has a direct and instant impact on the market sentiments. When Arkham Intelligence first reported massive Bitcoin transfer by Tesla, the crypto market got all the reasons to be speculative.
Many crypto enthusiasts took to X to share their opinions, which gave rise to speculations that Tesla was going to sell its Bitcoin stash. The rumours of a major market dump resulted in anxiety. However, Tesla doesn’t look in a hurry and still owns these transferred Bitcoin tokens, which has eased the tension in the market.
Arkham Intelligence’s data confirms that Tesla still owns Bitcoin tokens worth $780 million. Another interesting thing was that despite the major speculations around Tesla’s Bitcoin transfer, Bitcoin continued its top flight, surpassing $69000 in the process on October 21, CoinGecko data highlighted. Bitcoin was trading at $66809.70 at 03:30 am EST on Wednesday.
What Exactly is Tesla Up to?
Amid all speculations in the crypto market, Arkham found possible answers to the questions surrounding Tesla’s massive Bitcoin transfer. According to the research firm, Elon Musk’s Tesla, which uses Coinbase Prime Custody to share its Bitcoins, is likely to move these Bitcoin tokens to a custodian to acquire a loan against the Bitcoin.
Tesla is set to reveal its third-quarter earnings on October 23 and Arkham Intelligence experts believe this is when the top car maker is likely to announce its plans around Bitcoin transfer.
Based on Arkham’s analysis, Tesla is the fourth largest Bitcoin holder in the corporate world. Only MicroStrategy, Marathon Digital, and Riot Platforms have more Bitcoin tokens than Tesla. Elon Musk’s car manufacturer business has diversified its Bitcoin portfolio. The spacecraft manufacturer firm SpaceX owns 8285 Bitcoin tokens worth $560 million, which makes it the 7th biggest firm to hold Bitcoin stash. Elon Musk’s Tesla made its first Bitcoin purchase in February 2021 when it bought BTC worth $1.5 billion.
Elon Musk owns around 13% of Tesla’s common stock whereas other leading shareholders are Vanguard and BlockRock with 7.2% AND 5.9% stakes, respectively.
The Final Thoughts
Crypto analysts, experts, and enthusiasts are still looking for the possible scenarios in the backdrop of Tesla’s recent massive Bitcoin transfer. Although Arkham Intelligence believes Tesla might use its Bitcoins to secure a loan, the car manufacturer is likely to spill the beans during its earning release for the third quarter on Thursday.
Whether Tesla keeps its Bitcoins or sells it, Bitcoin looks larger than speculations as it currently consolidates above $66000. Analysts predict Bitcoin to surge beyond its all-time high of $73096.85 which it recorded on March 13, 2024. Will the Uptober rally allow Bitcoin to scale new peaks, only time has the answer.
