Tesla, the electric vehicle manufacturer, is believed to retain its entire Bitcoin reserve valued at $780 million, despite transferring the funds to unknown wallets on October 15, according to a blockchain analytics company.
“We suspect that the wallet activity we observed last week was a rotation of wallets, with the Bitcoin still belonging to Tesla,” Arkham Intelligence stated in a post on X on October 22.
On October 15, Tesla divided its 11,509 Bitcoin across seven wallets, each containing between 1,100 and 2,200 BTC, as noted by Arkham. The wallet addresses “1Fnhp” and “1LERL” received the largest amounts, valued at $142.2 million and $128.1 million, respectively.
Source: Arkham Intelligence
The significant transfers initially triggered concerns about a potential market dump, causing unease on social media platforms like X.
However, Arkham’s data indicates that the wallets involved have not moved any Bitcoin since October 15.
This activity also has not impacted Bitcoin’s price, which rose by 5% from the time of Tesla’s transactions to reach $69,220 on October 21, as per CoinGecko data. Bitcoin has since retracted by 2.3%, currently standing at $67,600.
Although the exact reason behind Tesla’s transfers remains unclear, Arkham mentioned that some analysts speculate the funds could be moving to a custodian. This might allow Elon Musk’s company to secure a loan using the Bitcoin as collateral.
Tesla is currently utilizing Coinbase Prime Custody for its Bitcoin storage.
During the third-quarter earnings call, scheduled for after the bell on October 23, Tesla executives may disclose their strategy regarding the Bitcoin holdings.
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If Arkham’s analysis holds true, Musk’s organization remains the fourth-largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, following business intelligence firm MicroStrategy and Bitcoin mining companies Marathon Digital and Riot Platforms, as indicated by Bitcoin Treasuries data.
Additionally, Musk’s aerospace company, SpaceX, possesses 8,285 Bitcoin valued at $560 million, representing the seventh-largest Bitcoin reserve owned by a private firm.
Tesla originally acquired Bitcoin in February 2021, purchasing $1.5 billion worth of the cryptocurrency.
In March 2021, Tesla CEO Elon Musk briefly accepted Bitcoin as a payment option for the company’s vehicles, but this decision was reversed a few weeks later.
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