Entering October, the price of Bitcoin began to regain its upward trend. On October 16, the price of Bitcoin once exceeded $68,000, soaring more than 3% during the session, setting a new high since July 30.
Figure: Bitcoin price trend since July
Tesla clears out Bitcoin?
According to US media reports, Musk's electric car company Tesla has transferred all of its Bitcoin reserves worth more than $765 million to several unknown wallets. It is not clear whether Tesla has sold all of its Bitcoin holdings. Relevant information may be disclosed when the company announces its third-quarter financial results after the close of trading on October 23.
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The crypto wallet marked as Tesla made 26 transactions, transferring almost all of the company's 11,500 bitcoins. Prior to this sudden batch of transfers, Tesla's Bitcoin wallet had been idle since June 17, 2022. There is no indication that the bitcoins have been sent to cryptocurrency exchanges, and Tesla has not publicly disclosed any plans to sell its cryptocurrency.
It is unclear whether Tesla still controls its 11,500 bitcoins, which make it the fourth-largest bitcoin holder among public companies, according to Bitcoin Treasury data, behind leading business intelligence company MicroStrategy and bitcoin miners Marathon Digital and Riot Platforms.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the transfer.
Tesla first bought Bitcoin in February 2021, purchasing $1.5 billion worth of the cryptocurrency. The following month, it sold 4,320 Bitcoins, and then 29,160 in 2022.
Musk briefly accepted Bitcoin as a payment method for company cars in March 2021, but reversed that decision a few weeks later.
In addition to Tesla, another company owned by Musk, the spacecraft manufacturing company SpaceX, still holds 8,285 bitcoins worth more than US$553 million, making it the seventh largest private company holding Bitcoin.
Italy Plans to Increase Capital Gains Tax on Bitcoin
Italy plans to increase capital gains taxes on Bitcoin from 26% to 42% in a move to finance expensive election promises while cutting its fiscal deficit. Italy’s announcement comes as the European Union prepares to implement sweeping cryptocurrency regulations by the end of the year.
A report from TaxDAO, a cryptocurrency tax and financial consulting agency, shows that Italy’s attitude towards crypto assets is generally open but cautious. In 2021, Italy opened up crypto asset trading. In the following years, the growth of the Italian crypto asset market was very significant. According to 2024 data, more than 3.6 million Italians owned crypto assets, and the total market value of Italian crypto assets increased in the past An increase of 110% in one year. At the same time, the Italian government also attaches great importance to the risks of the crypto industry and continues to strengthen the supervision of risks related to crypto assets. The Bank of Italy will soon implement the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) regulations to ensure effective supervision of the crypto asset market and the protection of cryptocurrencies. holder. In addition, the Italian government has also formulated relatively friendly tax policies to encourage and promote the development of crypto-asset-related financial industries.
At present, Italy's capital gains tax is levied on any digital asset derived from blockchain technology, and any profit realized above the 2,000 euro threshold is subject to tax. The capital gains tax rate is uniformly set at 26%, and the taxable capital gains are calculated based on the difference between the sale price of the cryptocurrency and the purchase price of the cryptocurrency. In addition, if the capital loss exceeds 2,000 euros, this part of the loss can be fully deducted from the capital gains in subsequent accounting periods, but the deduction period shall not exceed the fourth period.
It is understood that Italian Deputy Finance Minister Maurizio Leo mentioned the increase in cryptocurrency capital gains tax in a conference call. He said that the cabinet of Prime Minister Giorgia Meroni decided to increase the tax rate because the "phenomenon is spreading" of Bitcoin. This decision was made against the background of the EU's preparations to implement the MiCA cryptocurrency regulatory plan, which is expected to be fully implemented by the end of this year.
Indeed, previous efforts by other countries to tax cryptocurrency transactions have not always yielded much for national coffers. India began imposing a heavy digital asset tax two years ago, but trading volumes have shrunk as local investors turned to offshore platforms to circumvent the tax.
BlackRock's holdings exceed $25 billion
BlackRock officially updated the holdings data of its spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT). As of October 15, IBIT's holdings exceeded 375,000 bitcoins, and the market value of its holdings exceeded US$25 billion.
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink recently proposed that Bitcoin is an alternative to other commodities such as gold.
During BlackRock's third-quarter 2024 earnings call, Fink listed two sets of data: BlackRock's iShares Ethereum Trust exchange-traded fund (ETF) attracted more than $1 billion in net inflows within two months of its listing, while the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF grew to $23 billion in the first nine months of this year.
Fink noted that the products fit into BlackRock’s broader goal of making investing easier and more affordable for investors around the world.
