SpaceX Sells $373 Million in Bitcoin, BTC Price Plummets to $25,166
Bitcoin faced a significant sell-off following news that Elon Musk's aerospace company, SpaceX, liquidated $373 million worth of Bitcoin.
According to the Wall Street Journal, this information was gleaned from confidential financial documents detailing SpaceX's activities in 2022 and 2021. However, specifics such as the timing of purchases, sales, and the amount of Bitcoin still held by SpaceX were not disclosed.
SpaceX’s soaring revenue helped it eke out a small profit in the first three months of the year after two annual losses, according to documents that offer a rare view into the financials of Elon Musk’s rocket company https://t.co/R4whN38XIF
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) August 17, 2023
Previously, another company owned by Elon Musk, Tesla, had invested $1.5 billion in Bitcoin and subsequently sold portions, most recently divesting $936 million worth of BTC in July 2022. Since then, Tesla has refrained from further Bitcoin sales for four consecutive quarters, maintaining holdings of $184 million in Bitcoin.
CHINA EVERGRANDE FILES FOR CHAPTER 15 BANKRUPTCY IN NEW YORK
— *Walter Bloomberg (@DeItaone) August 17, 2023
It is speculated that SpaceX's Bitcoin sales may have coincided with Tesla's, potentially in July 2022, although this information has not been officially confirmed.
However, many opinions suggest that SpaceX's actions alone did not cause the BTC price drop. It was compounded by various other factors, including the timing of the SEC's decision on Grayscale's GBTC conversion proposal to ETF (scheduled for the evening of August 18) and developments regarding the financial health of China's Evergrande real estate conglomerate, which faced bankruptcy concerns.
Bitcoin reacted negatively to this news. After correcting to $27,700 on the evening of August 17, the world's largest cryptocurrency continued its decline to $25,166 on Binance, marking a 12.6% drop over the past 24 hours.
This was the lowest price point for Bitcoin since June 15, amid ongoing legal uncertainties surrounding SEC lawsuits targeting Coinbase and Binance, before bouncing back due to prospects of Bitcoin ETFs from major Wall Street entities.
According to Coinglass, the past 12 hours witnessed $1 billion in derivative orders liquidated in the cryptocurrency market, with 81% being long positions. BTC derivatives liquidations totaled nearly $485 million, while ETH saw $301 million.
Data on cryptocurrency liquidations in the past 12 hours, sourced from Coinglass as of 08:00 AM on August 18, 2023
According to parsec, in the past 24 hours, the liquidation volume on the DeFi exceeded 75 million U.S. dollars, which was the peak liquidation during the year. In addition, if ETH falls to around $1,480, about $268 million in collateral will be liquidated. https://t.co/CF2yRPDw0P pic.twitter.com/5QdL58l0uq
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) August 18, 2023
In the decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, $75 million was liquidated in the past 12 hours, marking the highest figure for 2023. Parsec estimates that if ETH drops to $1,480, approximately $268 million in collateral assets on Ethereum could be liquidated.
