Author: Joyce

On March 7, according to Arkham data, Tesla's Bitcoin holdings reached 11,509 coins, which means that if the data is accurate, Tesla has purchased Bitcoin again after several years.

Previously, according to data tracked by Bitcoin Treasuries, Tesla held 9,720 BTC, making it the third-largest public holder of the asset, behind software company MicroStrategy (MSTR) and mining company Marathon (MARA). It is reported that Tesla sold 4,320 Bitcoins in 2021 and another 29,160 Bitcoins in 2022, maintaining its Bitcoin holdings at 9,720 coins until 2023. Now, Tesla has increased its holdings by 1,789 Bitcoins using the same address, bringing its total to 11,509 coins.

However, monitoring shows that the wallet holding Tesla's 11,509 BTC last recorded a transaction two years ago. In January of this year, CoinDesk reported that according to Tesla's financial report, its Bitcoin holdings had not changed in the past three months. Furthermore, Tesla has not updated the number of Bitcoins it has increased, and the official interface still shows 9,720 coins.

If Arkham's on-chain tracking is accurate, Tesla is likely to announce the increase in holdings in its next financial report.

"ETF of the last bull market," Tesla spent $1.5 billion to buy Bitcoin

Tesla's first Bitcoin purchase transaction occurred in February 2021, when a notice submitted by Tesla to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) revealed that the company had purchased $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin and indicated that it would soon begin accepting Bitcoin as payment for its cars and other products. At that time, the price of Bitcoin was less than $39,000, and after being reported by the media, the price of Bitcoin surged continuously, reaching over $50,000.

At that time, Tesla's massive purchase was not well received. The Financial Times quoted Campbell Harvey from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, stating that Tesla's acquisition of Bitcoin was "unusual" and "risky," and could not hedge against market uncertainty. If Bitcoin was realized as a payment method, Tesla would become the first large enterprise to truly accept Bitcoin payments.

On May 13, 2021, Elon Musk, then CEO of Tesla, suddenly announced that Tesla would no longer accept Bitcoin payments, less than two months after they announced support for Bitcoin payments. Bitcoin fell 15% in response, dropping to $46,000, with over $2 billion in liquidations across the network.

In the late first quarter of 2021, Tesla sold 10% of its Bitcoin at a high point, increasing its earnings for that quarter by $272 million, while still holding $1.33 billion in Bitcoin. During the bear market of 2021, Tesla did not conduct any further Bitcoin purchases or sales.

As 2022 began and Bitcoin started to crash, Tesla wrote down its Bitcoin holdings, selling nearly 30,000 Bitcoins for $936 million, approximately 75% of its holdings. Tesla's CEO Musk stated during the earnings call that the sale of Bitcoin was solely to improve cash flow, "not a judgment on Bitcoin." He also revealed to the media that the sale was due to "concerns about the fossil fuel consumption of Bitcoin mining."

Whether Tesla has really bought Bitcoin again will need to be confirmed in the next financial report.