23SpaceX, the privately held aerospace firm helmed by tech billionaire Elon Musk, executed another substantial Bitcoin transfer on Wednesday, continuing a recent surge in on-chain activity. The move saw 281 Bitcoin, valued at over $31 million, transferred from a Coinbase Prime custody wallet to a newly established address, according to on-chain data tracked by Arkham Intelligence.
The exact intent behind these transfers remains unclear. While some speculate the company could be reorganizing its digital asset storage, preparing for a sale, or planning alternative uses for its Bitcoin, SpaceX has not yet responded to inquiries regarding these recent moves, Decrypt said in a report.
This latest transaction follows a series of significant transfers last week, which saw hundreds of millions of dollars in Bitcoin moved from wallets linked to SpaceX. Notably, prior to a transaction three months ago, SpaceX’s Bitcoin holdings had remained untouched for three years.
Assuming no sales have occurred recently, SpaceX’s current Bitcoin treasury stands at 8,285 BTC, equating to approximately $894 million. This positions the aerospace company as the fourth-largest privately held corporate Bitcoin holder, according to data from bitcointreasuries.net. It’s important to note that SpaceX’s Bitcoin holdings have fluctuated; the company reportedly held 25,000 BTC in 2022 before reducing its position to 8,285 BTC by June of that year.
Interestingly, this increased Bitcoin activity from SpaceX coincides with a recent shift in Elon Musk’s public stance on Bitcoin’s energy consumption. Earlier this week, the Tesla CEO made a rare appearance on Crypto Twitter (now X) to laud Bitcoin’s energy demands, a notable departure from his earlier criticisms in 2021 regarding the environmental impact of Bitcoin mining. Musk’s comments were made within a discussion positing AI as the “new global arms race,” suggesting that the rise in precious metals and Bitcoin reflects a “debasement” strategy to fund this race.
Meanwhile, Musk’s electric vehicle company, Tesla, maintains a substantial Bitcoin treasury of 11,509 BTC, valued at over $1.24 billion. This places Tesla just outside the top 10 publicly traded companies by Bitcoin holdings. Earlier this year, Tesla reported over $600 million in quarterly profits thanks to new accounting rules allowing it to revalue its Bitcoin holdings as prices surged post-President Trump’s election. Tesla’s last recorded on-chain activity occurred in October 2024, when it similarly transferred its Bitcoin holdings to new wallets without providing public commentary.
