Elon Musk Triggers Speculation as Tesla Transfers Almost All Bitcoin Holdings

Tesla has transferred almost all of its Bitcoin holdings to unknown wallets, spurring fear that the electric car giant might be selling its holdings.

According to Arkham Intelligence, Tesla's wallets moved over 11,500 Bitcoin, amounting to around $760 million and marking its first move in two years.

Tesla is the fourth largest US publicly traded company holding Bitcoin, behind MicroStrategy and mining firms Marathon Digital and Riot Platforms. In February 2021, Tesla bought $1.5 billion of Bitcoin and owned as much as $2.5 billion of the cryptocurrency. 75% of its Bitcoin was sold off at a loss in early 2022.

Company founder Elon Musk had previously been a vocal supporter of Bitcoin and even considered accepting it as payment for Tesla. The idea was eventually scrapped due to environmental concerns.

“If the price of Bitcoin goes down, I lose money,” Musk said in July 2021. “I might pump, but I don’t dump. … I definitely do not believe in getting the price high and selling, or anything like this. I would like to see Bitcoin succeed.”

“I am late to the party but I am a supporter of Bitcoin,” he said in February of that year.​​

Two years later, Musk said, "there's some merit in bitcoin, and maybe some other crypto," hinting at his unwavering support for the memecoin Dogecoin.

"The most entertaining outcome and the most ironic outcome would be that dogecoin becomes the currency of Earth in the future,” he said.

In August this year, Musk and Tesla secured a win in a federal lawsuit that accused them both of manipulating Dogecoin.

The case, which alleged that Musk's endorsement of the Memecoin along with insider trading caused investors to lose billions, was dismissed by US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein in Manhattan.

Tesla's latest move has the market speculating about what drove the decision. "With $760 million in $BTC shifting, it’s clear Tesla is making some strategic plays I wonder what this means for the market, could it spark another wave of bullish sentiment?" Questioned one X user.

"It’s going into trump’s project," one X user suggested.