- Tesla split 11,509 Bitcoin between 7 wallets.
- Arkham Intelligence said some people speculated that it was a transfer to a cryptocurrency custodian.
- Tesla remains the third-largest publicly traded Bitcoin company, behind MicroStrategy and Marathon Digital Holdings.
Despite last week’s wallet movements, Tesla still holds 11,509 bitcoins, according to the blockchain analytics firm.
In a post about X, Arkham Intelligence said:
βWe believe the Tesla wallet movement we reported last week was a wallet rotation using Bitcoin still owned by Tesla. Tesla moved the entire balance of 11,509 BTC ($776.9 million) to the new wallet.β
π¨π£πππ§π: π§ππ¦ππ πππ§ππ’ππ‘ πͺπππππ§π¦
We believe the Tesla wallet movement we reported last week was a wallet rotation using Bitcoin that Tesla still owns.
Tesla transferred the entire balance of 11,509 BTC ($776.9 million) to the new wallet. pic.twitter.com/aWeHrwjo22
β Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) October 22, 2024
Arkham noted that Tesla split the 11,509 bitcoins into seven wallets, with the largest holding 1Fnhp β 2109.3 BTC ($142.2M).
βSome have speculated that this is a move to a custodian to secure loans for BTC,β Arkham said.
Third largest publicly traded Bitcoin holder
Tesla’s Bitcoin transfer marks the electric car company’s first interaction with a cryptocurrency wallet since 2022, when it first sold off a significant portion of its holdings.
Tesla owned about 43,000 bitcoins at its peak after investing $1.5 billion in the cryptocurrency asset in February 2021, according to data from BitcoinTreasuries. This resulted in $272 million worth of Bitcoin being sold in the first quarter of 2021, generating $128 million in revenue.
By the second quarter of 2022, Tesla had sold an additional $936 million in Bitcoin, resulting in a $64 million profit as the market experienced volatility.
The recent transfers have some concerned this could lead to a market sell-off. Tesla is expected to reveal its plans for Bitcoin during its third quarter earnings call scheduled for October 23.
To date, Tesla remains the third-largest holder of Bitcoin among public companies. It lags MicroStrategy and Marathon Digital Holdings.