Original author: Jocye, Luccy
Original source: BlockBeats
On March 7, according to Arkham data, Tesla’s Bitcoin holdings reached 11,509, which means that if the statistics are correct, Tesla has purchased Bitcoin again after many years.
Prior to this, according to data tracked by Bitcoin Treasures, Tesla’s 9,720 BTC holdings have made it the third largest public holder of the asset, behind software company MicroStrategy (MSTR) and mining companies Marathon (MARA). It is reported that Tesla sold 4,320 Bitcoins in 2021 and 29,160 Bitcoins in 2022. By 2023, its Bitcoin holdings have remained at 9,720 Bitcoins. Today, Tesla added 1,789 Bitcoins using the same address, increasing its holdings to 11,509 Bitcoins.
But according to monitoring, the last transaction recorded in the wallet of 11,509 BTC held by Tesla was 2 years ago. In January this year, CoinDesk reported that according to Tesla’s financial report, its Bitcoin holdings had not changed in the past three months. Tesla has not officially updated its number of Bitcoin holdings, and the official interface still shows 9,720.
If the tracking on the Arkham chain is accurate, Tesla is likely to announce an increase in holdings in its next earnings report.
"ETF in the last bull market", Tesla spent $1.5 billion to buy Bitcoin
Tesla’s first Bitcoin purchase transaction occurred in February 2021. An announcement filed by Tesla with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) showed that the company had purchased $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin and said it expects to soon begin accepting Bitcoin as payment for the purchase of its cars and other products. At the time, the price of Bitcoin was less than $39,000. After the media coverage, the price of Bitcoin continued to surge, reaching more than $50,000.
At that time, Tesla’s huge purchase was not considered promising. The Financial Times quoted Campbell Harvey of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, as saying Tesla's acquisition of Bitcoin was "unusual" and "risky" and would not serve as a hedge against market uncertainty. If Bitcoin is implemented as a payment method, Tesla will become the first large enterprise to truly accept Bitcoin payments.
On May 13, 2021, Elon Musk, who was still Tesla CEO at the time, suddenly announced that Tesla would no longer accept Bitcoin payments, less than two months after they announced that they would support Bitcoin payments. Bitcoin fell 15% in response, once falling to $46,000, and the entire network liquidated more than $2 billion.
Late in the first quarter of 2021, Tesla sold 10% of its Bitcoin at its highs, adding $272 million to its earnings for the quarter, and still holds $1.33 billion in Bitcoin. Tesla made no further buy or sell trades in Bitcoin during the 2021 bear market.
Entering 2022, after Bitcoin began to collapse, Tesla wrote down its Bitcoin holdings and sold nearly 30,000 Bitcoins for $936 million, accounting for approximately 75% of its holdings. Tesla CEO Musk said on the earnings call that the sale of Bitcoin was only intended to improve the cash situation and was "not a verdict on Bitcoin." He also told the media that he bought Bitcoin because he was "worried about Bitcoin." Mining operations consume fossil fuels."
Whether Tesla actually buys Bitcoin again will need to be known in its next financial report.
