When SpaceX filed for its much-hyped IPO, investors learned that the size of its Bitcoin hoard exceeded previous estimates. When the company finally does go public, it’s an open question what the firm helmed by Elon Musk, who has recently cooled on his longtime crypto fervor, will do with that stash, which is currently worth nearly $1.4 billion.
The situation is not entirely unprecedented. Tesla, another Musk-owned company that went public, still has a Bitcoin stockpile that it has held since 2021. But SpaceX’s 18,712 Bitcoin is substantially more than the 11,509 that Tesla now holds.
In the case of Tesla, the company sold a large chunk of its initial Bitcoin purchases in 2022, and there are reports suggesting that SpaceX has sold some of its holdings as well. Still, it doesn’t seem to be the case that a newly-public SpaceX is likely to sell its Bitcoin—at least in the short term.
“Could SpaceX sell its Bitcoin as a public company? Certainly, but it would likely take a major strategic shift or a genuine liquidity crisis, not routine treasury management. Like Tesla, SpaceX seems to treat Bitcoin as a long-term reserve asset, not a trading vehicle,” David Krause, a finance professor emeritus at Marquette University, told Fortune.
