The story behind SpaceX’s mysterious $153M crypto transfer
SpaceX transferred 1,308 Bitcoin, valued at approximately $153 million, in its first on-chain activity in three years, as political tensions rise and the Pentagon diversifies defense contracts.
The Bitcoin movement, flagged by Arkham Intelligence (via Cointelegraph), involved withdrawing BTC from 16 Pay-to-Public-Key-Hash (P2PKH) addresses and consolidating it into a single SegWit-compatible Pay-to-Witness-Public-Key-Hash (P2WPKH) address. The funds remained in this single address at the time of publication.
SpaceX, a private aerospace company founded by Elon Musk in 2002, first disclosed its Bitcoin holdings in July 2021, concurrently with Tesla. This purchase aligned with Musk’s strategy to diversify company assets and support cryptocurrency adoption. Neither SpaceX nor Musk has commented on the recent transfer.
The consolidation of SpaceX’s Bitcoin holdings occurs as the company navigates increased political uncertainty. In early June, reports indicated the US President Donald Trump administration considered reviewing or canceling approximately $22 billion in SpaceX contracts due to a dispute between Trump and Musk on X. While most contracts were deemed critical to US interests, the situation underscored growing political tension and raised questions regarding SpaceX’s standing with the US government.
The Pentagon announced its decision to diversify partners for the Golden Dome missile defense system, a $175 billion initiative aimed at building a space-based network of satellites for threat detection and tracking. Concerns about “over-reliance on SpaceX” reportedly prompted the Trump administration to open bids to other providers, intending to prevent the Golden Dome from depending solely on SpaceX.
Elon Musk’s involvement with crypto has varied since the 2021 Bitcoin bull run. Early tweets endorsing Dogecoin preceded its 30% crash after his appearance on “Saturday Night Live.” In 2021, Tesla purchased $1.5 billion in Bitcoin and briefly accepted BTC for payments, a decision later reversed due to environmental concerns, followed by a partial sale of holdings.
After acquiring Twitter in 2022 and rebranding it as X, Musk began developing a broader financial ecosystem. X secured money transmitter licenses across the US, and backend code revealed early development of a native crypto wallet. While no crypto features have launched publicly, blockchain integration remains a long-term vision. Venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya stated in a 2024 podcast that SpaceX utilizes stablecoins for Starlink payments in emerging markets, bypassing traditional banking rails. SpaceX is estimated to hold approximately 6,977 BTC, valued at about $815 million, positioning it among the largest corporate Bitcoin holders.