Tesla quietly moves $769m in Bitcoin to multiple unknown wallets

Cybertruck manufacturer Tesla has moved its Bitcoin holdings across multiple unidentified wallets after two years of dormancy.

According to data from Arkham Intelligence, Tesla-labeled wallets started moving the funds on Oct. 15 at around 20:41 UTC, after conducting several test transactions for small amounts of Bitcoin. Subsequently, 11,500 Bitcoin (BTC) worth over $769 million were distributed across seven different wallets.

The transfers marked the first time the funds had been moved since June 17, 2022.

At press time, there had been no official announcement from the electric vehicle maker on whether it plans to sell its holdings, while the ownership of the recipient wallets remains unknown. Tesla’s upcoming Q3 earnings report, slated for Oct. 23, is expected to shed some light on the recent move.

On X, one observer speculated that the move was likely not a sale, but rather an effort by Tesla to take direct custody of the coins. They noted that this could signal the reactivation of Bitcoin payments, pointing out that the use of a legacy address format, typically not used by exchanges for near-term transactions, was a key indicator.

Tesla’s Bitcoin sales

The last time Tesla sold Bitcoin was in June 2022, when the company sold 29,160 at an average price of $20,000 per coin, which remains the firm’s biggest sale to date. Before that, the firm had offloaded 4,320 BTC a month after acquiring $1.5 billion of the flagship crypto in February 2021.

At the time, Musk said the move was to demonstrate how easy it was to liquidate Bitcoin without significantly impacting the market.

Soon after, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that the firm would also accept Bitcoin as a payment for its vehicles. However, just months later in May 2021, the company suspended the payment option citing growing concerns over the environmental impact of Bitcoin mining, particularly the heavy reliance on fossil fuels, such as coal, to power the mining operations.

Prior to today’s transfers, Tesla was the fourth-largest corporate holder of Bitcoin after business intelligence firm MicroStrategy and Bitcoin miners Galaxy Digital and Riot platforms, per Bitbo data.

Meanwhile, Musk’s other company SpaceX, continues to hold its Bitcoin stash, currently owning 8,285 Bitcoin (roughly $556 million.)

When writing, Bitcoin’s price had not reacted to the transfers, and the cryptocurrency was trading slightly below $67,000, and was up 1.7% in the past 24 hours.

In related news, Musk teased the possibility of reinstating Dogecoin as a payment option for Tesla merchandise in August. Though no official announcement has been made, Musk’s subtle hints have once again put Dogecoin in the spotlight.