SpaceX moves $153M in BTC after three-year silence

SpaceX has moved 1,308 Bitcoin, worthy astir $153 million, successful its archetypal onchain enactment successful 3 years. The question was flagged by Arkham Intelligence, which tracks wallets tied to the company.

The Bitcoin (BTC) was withdrawn from 16 Pay-to-Public-Key-Hash (P2PKH) addresses and consolidated into a azygous SegWit-compatible Pay-to-Witness-Public-Key-Hash (P2WPKH) address, wherever it remained astatine clip of publication. The question of BTC from 16 abstracted addresses into 1 could marque it easier to negociate and perchance cheaper to walk the funds later.

While the crushed for moving the assets is unclear, the quality of the transportation suggests a strategical accommodation alternatively than a reactive action.

SpaceX is simply a backstage aerospace institution founded by Elon Musk successful 2002. The institution archetypal disclosed its BTC holdings successful July 2021, alongside Tesla. The acquisition was portion of Musk’s broader strategy to diversify his companies’ assets and enactment crypto adoption.

Source: Arkham Intelligence

Neither SpaceX nor Musk has commented connected the transfer.

Contract tensions turn arsenic Pentagon eyes SpaceX alternatives

SpaceX’s determination to consolidate its Bitcoin holdings comes arsenic the institution is navigating expanding governmental uncertainty.

In aboriginal June, the medication of US President Donald Trump reportedly threatened to reappraisal oregon cancel astir $22 cardinal successful SpaceX contracts amid a feud betwixt the Trump and Musk connected X. Though astir of the contracts were deemed “too captious to US interests to eliminate,” the occurrence signaled increasing governmental hostility and raised questions astir SpaceX’s semipermanent lasting with the US government.

Today, the Pentagon announced its determination to diversify its partners for the Golden Dome rocket defence system, a $175 cardinal rocket defence inaugural to physique a space-based web of satellites to observe and way incoming threats. 

Reported by Reuters, concerns implicit “over-reliance connected SpaceX” person prompted the Trump medication to unfastened bids to different providers, ensuring the Golden Dome isn’t solely babelike connected SpaceX.

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From memecoins to stablecoin rails

Since the 2021 Bitcoin bull run, Elon Musk’s narration with crypto has been thing but straightforward. His aboriginal tweets endorsing Dogecoin sent the memecoin soaring, lone for it to clang by 30% pursuing his quality on the TV sketch drama amusement “Saturday Night Live.”

That aforesaid year, Tesla announced a $1.5 cardinal Bitcoin acquisition and concisely accepted BTC arsenic payment. The determination was soon reversed implicit biology concerns, and a information of the company’s holdings was sold off.

After acquiring Twitter successful 2022 and rebranding it arsenic X, Musk began laying the groundwork for a broader fiscal ecosystem. X secured wealth transmitter licenses crossed the US, and backend codification revealed early improvement of a autochthonal crypto wallet. While nary crypto features person been launched publicly, blockchain integration remains portion of the semipermanent vision.

In a 2024 podcast, task capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya said SpaceX uses stablecoins to cod Starlink payments successful emerging markets, bypassing accepted banking rails. “They don’t privation to woody with sending wires… truthful they swap into stablecoins,” helium said.

Today, SpaceX is estimated to hold astir 6,977 BTC, worthy astir $815 million, positioning it softly among the largest firm Bitcoin holders.

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