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Bitcoin has swung wildly this last week after Tesla chief executive Elon Musk issued a surprise crypto endorsement.
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The bitcoin price, up over 200% since its recent 2022 lows, has soared this year thanks to Wall Street giant BlackRock leading a bitcoin and crypto “revolution.”
Now, as Elon Musk warns the U.S. is hurtling toward the brink of “bankruptcy,” traders are braced for his electric car company Tesla to post its third quarter earnings, potentially revealing why it suddenly moved its near-$800 million worth of bitcoin last week.
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Elon Musk’s Tesla sent shock waves through the bitcoin and crypto market when it suddenly moved its … [+]
“We believe that the Tesla wallet movements that we reported on last week were wallet rotations with the bitcoin still owned by Tesla,” blockchain sleuths with Arkham
Arkham
Tesla suddenly moving its bitcoin last week, the first time it’s moved for around two years, sparked speculation that it was being moved for an over-the-counter sale.
In early 2022, Musk sold off the majority of the $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin he had added to Tesla’s balance sheet a year earlier to secure a quarterly profit for the company.
Tesla will post its 2024 third-quarter results after the U.S. market closes on Wednesday, October 23, and may reveal why it moved its bitcoin.
Tesla is the fourth largest corporate holder of bitcoin after bitcoin mining companies Riot and Marathon and Michael Saylor’s software company MicroStrategy—which holds $17 billion worth of bitcoin.
This week, Musk surprised the bitcoin and crypto market with an endorsement after recently directing his attention toward criticism of the U.S. spending, repeatedly warning the U.S. is hurtling toward the brink of “bankruptcy.”
“I think cryptocurrency is an interesting and probably valuable bulwark against centralized control,” Musk said, speaking at a campaign rally for former U.S. president Donald Trump in Pittsburgh when asked by an attendee whether the cryptocurrency XRP
XRP
“Crypto by its very nature helps with individual freedom,” Musk said, adding he wasn’t endorsing XRP or any other specific cryptocurrency.
Musk later said he “wasn’t actively involved in crypto,” dodging a question about whether blockchains, the technology that underpins bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, could be used in future elections to reduce or eliminate voter fraud.
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The bitcoin price has surged back toward its all-time highs this year, with Tesla and Elon Musk … [+]
Meanwhile, bitcoin and crypto traders are closely watching the polls ahead of next month’s U.S. presidential election, which could be a bitcoin price “tipping point.”
“Take a bird’s eye view of bitcoin, and the world’s most valuable cryptocurrency has been stuck in a holding pattern since March. The question on everyone’s lips is, ‘what will it take to move it?'” Richard Ptardio, cryptocurrency and financial markets analyst, said in emailed comments.
“Bitcoin bulls are looking at next month’s U.S. election as the tipping point. Should Donald Trump be returned to the White House, the promise of a low-regulation administration and the likely removal of Gary Gensler as U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair could break the resistance required for new all-time highs,” Ptardio said.
Trump has enthusiastically embraced bitcoin and crypto this year, backing his family’s World Liberty Financial crypto project and selling four non-fungible token (NFT
APENFT
Speaking earlier this year at a bitcoin conference, Trump promised to create a U.S. bitcoin strategic reserve if reelected and predicted the bitcoin price could eventually eclipse gold.
“However, even with Trump in office, bears may be right to sound a note of caution,” Ptardio said. “There are signs that bitcoin is no longer the safe haven from the type of geo-political uncertainty that tends to follow him.”