After a two-year hiatus, Cybertruck maker Tesla has moved its Bitcoin holdings to multiple unidentified wallets.
According to data from Arkham Intelligence, the Tesla-labeled wallet was released on October 15 at approximately 20:41 pm UTC after conducting several test transactions for small amounts of Bitcoin. started transferring funds. 11,500 Bitcoins (BTC) worth over $769 million were then distributed across seven different wallets.
This transfer was the first funds transfer since June 17, 2022.
At the time of writing, there has been no official announcement from the electric car maker as to whether it plans to sell its holdings, and the ownership of the recipient's wallet remains unknown. Tesla's upcoming third-quarter earnings report, scheduled for October 23, is expected to shed some light on recent developments.
Regarding X, one observer speculated that the move was likely an attempt by Tesla to take direct control of the coin rather than a sale. They noted that this could signal the resumption of Bitcoin payments, and noted that the use of traditional address formats, which exchanges typically do not use for short-term transactions, is a key indicator.
Tesla Bitcoin Sales
The last time Tesla sold Bitcoin was in June 2022, when the company sold 29,160 Bitcoin at an average price of $20,000 per coin, making it the company's biggest sale to date. are. Prior to that, the company was offloading 4,320 BTC per month after acquiring $1.5 billion of its flagship cryptocurrency in February 2021.
At the time, Musk said the move was to demonstrate how easy it is to liquidate Bitcoin without significantly impacting the market.
Shortly after, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that the company would also accept Bitcoin as payment for its vehicles. However, just a few months later, in May 2021, the company announced its payment options, citing growing concerns about the environmental impact of Bitcoin mining, particularly its heavy reliance on fossil fuels such as coal to power mining operations. was temporarily suspended.
Before today's transfer, Tesla was the fourth-largest bitcoin holder, behind business intelligence firm MicroStrategy, bitcoin miners Galaxy Digital and the Riot platform, according to Bitbo data.
Meanwhile, Musk's other company, SpaceX, maintains a stash of bitcoins and currently owns 8,285 bitcoins (approximately $556 million).
At the time of writing, Bitcoin's price had not reacted to the transfer, with the cryptocurrency trading just below $67,000, up 1.7% in the past 24 hours.
In related news, Musk hinted at the possibility of bringing back Dogecoin as a payment option for Tesla products in August. Although no official announcement has been made, Dogecoin is once again in the spotlight due to subtle hints from Mr. Musk.
