Tesla transfers $780 million in Bitcoin as "collateral loan"? Tomorrow morning’s earnings report may contain surprises

Last week, Arkham Research pointed out that Tesla's wallet addresses had transferred all of its 11,509 BTC, worth nearly $770 million at the time, to 7 new anonymous wallet addresses in multiple batches. This was the first time Tesla's holding addresses had seen any movement since the company's large-scale sale of BTC in 2022, which had raised concerns that the market was about to face a major sell-off of BTC. However, Arkham stated on X platform today (23rd) that Musk's Tesla may still own these BTC now worth nearly $780 million, as platform data shows that these 7 wallet addresses have remained under Tesla's control and have not transferred any BTC since October 16.

We believe that the Tesla wallet movements that we reported on last week were wallet rotations with the Bitcoin still owned by Tesla.

And since Tesla's transfer of its BTC holdings on the 16th, BTC price has risen by nearly 5.5% to a high of $69,546 on October 21, and is currently trading at $67,128. The market performance during this period does not seem to indicate that Tesla has been conducting a large-scale dumping operation.

UPDATE: TESLA BITCOIN WALLETS

We believe that the Tesla wallet movements that we reported on last week were wallet rotations with the Bitcoin still owned by Tesla.

Tesla moved their entire balance of 11,509 BTC ($776.9M) to new wallets. pic.twitter.com/aWeHrwjo22

— Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) October 22, 2024

Tesla Still Holds $789 Million in BTC

Arkham further stated that Tesla's BTC holding addresses have distributed all 11,509 BTC to 7 new wallets, with each of these 7 wallets currently holding between 1,100 to 2,200 BTC. The two wallet addresses starting with "1Fnhp" and "1LERL" received the largest amounts, holding BTC worth $142.2 million and $128.1 million respectively.

• 1Fnhp – 2109.3 BTC ($142.2 million)
• 1LERL – 1900 BTC ($128.1 million)
• 1D6Vh – 1800 BTC ($121.3 million)
• 16QZn – 1700 BTC ($114.6 million)
• 1QC2z – 1600 BTC ($107.8 million)
• 1Phab – 1300 BTC ($87.6 million)
• 1MGM8 – 1100 BTC ($74.1 million)

Tesla's Transfer of BTC May Be for "Collateral Loans"

Arkham stated that some observers speculate that Tesla is transferring its BTC reserves to a custodian, which may be to use the BTC as collateral to obtain loans. It is understood that Tesla currently uses Coinbase Prime Custody to store its BTC. Regarding this, an anonymous expert told Blockbeats that the new wallet addresses Tesla transferred to are all "1-prefix" type, which are usually exchanges or established OTC desks.

If what Arkham says is true, it may be the latter, and Tesla may be collateralizing loans through OTC services.

However, what is the purpose behind Tesla's first transfer of its remaining BTC holdings in two years? Is it to sell the BTC on exchanges, or to use BTC as collateral to obtain loans? Tesla has not yet officially confirmed this. Arkham said Tesla's top management may reveal their plans for BTC during the Q3 earnings call after the US stock market close on October 23 (early morning of October 24 in Taiwan).