Musk’s corporate bitcoin holdings under scrutiny
Elon Musk’s exploration of a potential merger between SpaceX, Tesla, or xAI has brought attention to something that doesn’t get talked about much: one of the largest corporate bitcoin holdings anywhere. The combined companies hold close to 20,000 bitcoin, according to public records. That’s worth about $1.7 billion at current prices.
I think what’s interesting here is how this would make the merged entity the world’s seventh largest bitcoin holder. They’d be right behind Bullish, which owns about 24,300 bitcoin. But any deal is still in early stages, and it might not happen at all.
Different accounting approaches
SpaceX has held bitcoin since early 2021 and currently has around 8,285 bitcoin, worth roughly $680 million. Tesla holds 11,509 bitcoin, valued near $1 billion. The company reported no changes to that position in the last quarter of 2025.
Here’s where things get complicated. Tesla is a public company, so it has to follow fair-value accounting rules. That means when bitcoin prices swing, those changes show up directly in their earnings reports. SpaceX, being private, hasn’t had to deal with that kind of quarter-to-quarter visibility.
This difference matters more than you might think. SpaceX is considering a possible IPO that could value the company around $1.5 trillion. When that happens, crypto exposure becomes part of the due diligence process for big institutional investors. Some of those investors are still cautious about digital assets on corporate balance sheets.
Tesla’s bitcoin history
Tesla’s past with bitcoin still casts a long shadow. The company disclosed a $1.5 billion purchase in early 2021, sold some shortly after, then unloaded about 75% of its holdings in 2022 near market lows. That whole episode gave Tesla a reputation as a high-profile but inconsistent corporate holder.
Because of that history, any renewed focus on Musk-linked bitcoin treasuries becomes more sensitive. Neither company has indicated plans to buy or sell bitcoin as part of the merger discussions. The holdings represent a small fraction of daily trading volumes anyway.
Still, corporate concentration matters at the margins. Bitcoin’s narrative as a balance-sheet asset faces renewed debate, especially with gold’s recent surge and broader risk-off flows in the market.
Quiet integration into tech firms
Whether SpaceX merges with Tesla, pairs with xAI, or stays independent, these talks show something important. Bitcoin has quietly become embedded inside some of the world’s most valuable technology firms.
Even when bitcoin isn’t making headlines, it’s still there on the balance sheet. And that alone is enough to keep investors watching closely. The electric vehicle maker booked a $239 million after-tax loss on its digital assets last quarter as bitcoin slid from around $114,000 to the high $80,000s.
A merger wouldn’t change bitcoin’s fundamentals, but it would reshape how one of the largest corporate positions is governed, accounted for, and potentially financed. It’s one of those situations where the numbers are big enough to matter, but the story behind them might matter even more.
