Rocket manufacturer SpaceX has moved a large proportion of its bitcoin from one wallet to another. Dormant for three years, they have not yet disclosed the financial reasoning behind the move.
A wallet owned by the company SpaceX has returned to life after a three-year period of inactivity, with none of its holdings moving since 2022. The company shifted around $150 million worth of bitcoin to a previously inactive wallet, according to Arkham. The wallet, known as 15oKQ7… i7Jf1G, transferred part of its content to a new one named bc1q8k … phartf that had been previously inactive. So far, there has been no onward movement from this wallet.
SpaceX Still Keeps Some Bitcoin Holdings
SpaceX first disclosed its bitcoin holdings back in 2021. In June 2022, the wallet moved some 3.505 BTC. At the time, this was worth around $102 million with bitcoin trading at $30,000. Now it is worth almost four times that. Despite the most recent transfer, the company still holds 6977 BTC. This is valued at around the $815 million mark. It is now the third-largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, behind Tesla and Strategy MSTR.
Bitcoin has recently started to move upwards once more. At the time of writing, the bitcoin price chart shows it trading at $119,800. This is a move of over 2% in the last 24 hours. It follows a fantastic year, where it has even broken the $222,000 barrier. Many investors, both retail and corporate, are questioning if this will continue or if now is the time to take profit.
There has been no comment on the move from SpaceX, leaving many wondering what its strategy is. As many companies are racing to fill their corporate treasuries with bitcoin, it could mean SpaceX is going the other way and preparing for a sell-off. This would make sense after a drop in share prices and possible reassessment of its government contracts. Newspaper The Financial Times reported in July that it could be ready to sell $1 billion worth of shares to set its valuation at $400 billion. It could also be a simple rearrangement of its assets.
Is SpaceX Preparing for Altcoin Season?
One theory is that it could be preparing for altcoin season, which many are sensing has already arrived. This is when the value of altcoins soars, usually at the expense of bitcoin’s market dominance. It begins when 75% of the top 100 tokens outperform bitcoin over a three-month stretch.
As bitcoin rises in price, it becomes expensive, and the gains from buying it become less. Those who have sold, do, and those who want to hold have the rest of the supply. Thus, the market begins to stagnate somewhat. At this point, people turn to altcoins where they can see a potentially bigger increase.
The strength of bitcoin compared to altcoins is usually measured using the Bitcoin Dominance Chart. This is a percentage of its market value compared to the price of other coins. Currently, Bitcoin Dominance is standing at 60.6%. It is not just Ethereum that has made gains either, but tokens such as Pudgy Penguins, Pepe, and Fartcoin.
Companies have also begun to look into altcoins as a way to increase their value. In the last few months, a corporate gold rush has taken place to acquire bitcoin. Now, organizations are turning away from this and looking at the altcoin market. These include the Lockheed Martin Corporation and the General Motors Company, amongst others. It is quite feasible SpaceX may sell off some of its bitcoin and transfer it to altcoins.
Long Dormant Whales Moving Wallets
This has also followed a similar move by an increasing number of bitcoin whales. In the last month, several long-dormant wallets have begun to move their funds, with wallets coming to life after huge periods of time. July 4th saw one that had been still for 14 years awaken. It took $80,000 bitcoin, worth over $10,000. This came from a single wallet and was most likely sent to Galaxy Digital, an OTC exchange that will then sell this on to retail crypto exchanges.
Another move saw a wallet inactive for 12 years suddenly spring to life once more. It moved a little less at 250 BTC worth $29.68 million. This wallet had originally purchased 5,000 BTC in November 2013 for around $332. Over the past eight months, they have gradually been selling off their holdings starting last November. Neither of these cases is isolated: Across the board, whales are selling off their bitcoin.
None of this has spooked the market. Bitcoin remains strong, and its price is probably still buoyed by the corporate and institutional demand for it. A stagnation in price could be an indicator that it is losing its volatility, and is becoming what many predicted it would: A digital version of gold.