SpaceX has moved 1,308 Bitcoin, price roughly $153 million, in its first onchain exercise in three years. The motion was flagged by Arkham Intelligence, which tracks wallets tied to the corporate.
The Bitcoin (BTC) was withdrawn from 16 Pay-to-Public-Key-Hash (P2PKH) addresses and consolidated right into a single SegWit-compatible Pay-to-Witness-Public-Key-Hash (P2WPKH) handle, the place it remained at time of publication. The motion of BTC from 16 separate addresses into one might make it simpler to handle and probably cheaper to spend the funds later.
Whereas the explanation for transferring the property is unclear, the character of the switch suggests a strategic adjustment reasonably than a reactive motion.
SpaceX is a personal aerospace firm based by Elon Musk in 2002. The corporate first disclosed its BTC holdings in July 2021, alongside Tesla. The acquisition was a part of Musk’s broader technique to diversify his firms’ property and assist crypto adoption.
Neither SpaceX nor Musk has commented on the switch.
Contract tensions develop as Pentagon eyes SpaceX alternate options
SpaceX’s resolution to consolidate its Bitcoin holdings comes as the corporate is navigating growing political uncertainty.
In early June, the administration of US President Donald Trump reportedly threatened to overview or cancel about $22 billion in SpaceX contracts amid a feud between the Trump and Musk on X. Although many of the contracts had been deemed “too vital to US pursuits to get rid of,” the episode signaled rising political stress and raised questions on SpaceX’s long-term standing with the US authorities.
At present, the Pentagon introduced its resolution to diversify its companions for the Golden Dome missile protection system, a $175 billion missile protection initiative to construct a space-based community of satellites to detect and observe incoming threats.
Reported by Reuters, issues over “over-reliance on SpaceX” have prompted the Trump administration to open bids to different suppliers, guaranteeing the Golden Dome isn’t solely depending on SpaceX.
Associated: New Bitcoin analysis says ‘most explosive phase’ to $140K is close
From memecoins to stablecoin rails
For the reason that 2021 Bitcoin bull run, Elon Musk’s relationship with crypto has been something however easy. His early tweets endorsing Dogecoin despatched the memecoin hovering, just for it to crash by 30% following his look on the TV sketch comedy present “Saturday Night time Stay.”
That very same 12 months, Tesla introduced a $1.5 billion Bitcoin buy and briefly accepted BTC as cost. The choice was quickly reversed over environmental concerns, and a portion of the corporate’s holdings was offered off.
After buying Twitter in 2022 and rebranding it as X, Musk started laying the groundwork for a broader financial ecosystem. X secured cash transmitter licenses throughout the US, and backend code revealed early development of a native crypto wallet. Whereas no crypto options have been launched publicly, blockchain integration remains part of the long-term vision.
In a 2024 podcast, enterprise capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya stated SpaceX makes use of stablecoins to gather Starlink funds in rising markets, bypassing conventional banking rails. “They don’t wish to cope with sending wires… in order that they swap into stablecoins,” he stated.
At present, SpaceX is estimated to hold about 6,977 BTC, price roughly $815 million, positioning it quietly among the many largest company Bitcoin holders.
Magazine: Baby boomers worth $79T are finally getting on board with Bitcoin