Elon Musk's Tesla moves R$$ 4.3 billion in bitcoin and generates fear in the market

The electric car giant bought bitcoin as a store of value and moved assets for the first time in 2 years.

Tesla , one of the companies owned by billionaire Elon Musk , took the market by surprise this week after moving the bitcoin units it holds as reserves for the first time in two years. The amount is currently equivalent to more than US$$ 750 million (R$ 4.3 billion, at the current price), generating fears about the impacts in the event of a sale.

At the moment, the electric car manufacturer has the fourth largest cryptocurrency reserve among companies, according to data from BitcoinTreasuries. The acquisitions took place in 2021, but a considerable part of the assets were sold in 2022, during the last bear market.

The data indicates that Tesla currently has around 10,000 bitcoin units. The amount is significant and, therefore, the movements by Elon Musk's company have left investors apprehensive about a potential selling pressure that could bring down the price of the cryptocurrency or reduce its recent high.

The movement was not officially disclosed by Tesla, and therefore there is no official justification for the decision. However, it was identified in the market due to monitoring of the company's digital wallet in which the assets had been stored and untouched for two years.

Despite the atypical transfer and the fear among investors, so far the bitcoin units have not been transferred to accounts in cryptocurrency brokerages, which would be necessary if the company planned to sell the assets. However, the possibility has not yet been completely ruled out.

Reasons for the transfer

In an interview with the CoinDesk website, analyst Maartunn, from CryptoQuant, said that the movement could have occurred for four reasons. The first would be a need to comply with new compliance requirements or an internal audit, leading to the change of wallets.