Elon Musk’s decision to merge SpaceX with artificial intelligence company xAI has effectively created a trillion-dollar tech juggernaut – and quietly thrust one of the world’s largest corporate Bitcoin positions back into focus as the company moves closer to a public listing.
Although the deal was designed around the creation of “space-based AI,” the combined entity effectively inherits SpaceX’s long-standing bitcoin holdings, estimated to be around 8,300 BTC based on prior disclosures.
At current prices, that stake is worth about $650 million — which is small compared to a potential IPO valuation of more than $1 trillion, but large enough to be important for accounting, disclosure and investor optics.
SpaceX first disclosed its bitcoin purchase in 2021 and, unlike Musk’s energy company Tesla, has remained private, protecting its position from the quarter-to-quarter earnings volatility that public companies face under fair value accounting rules. This changes once preparation for the IPO begins.
Tesla’s management of its BTC remains a conservative benchmark, as the automaker has recorded hundreds of millions of dollars in paper losses in past withdrawals, even though it has not made any changes to its holdings.
The SpaceX-xAI merger concentrates this exposure within a single corporate structure at a time when bitcoin has returned to extreme volatility following recent selloffs due to liquidation.
Unlike Tesla, which has already sold and repurchased bitcoin, SpaceX has been reluctant to trade its position. This stability could attract long-term investors, but it also limits flexibility if market conditions deteriorate during the IPO period.
The deal also raises questions about how crypto assets are managed within Musk’s broader empire. Tesla, SpaceX and xAI have operated under different disclosure regimes, accounting treatments and capital structures, given their different statuses as public and private companies.
