SpaceX Launches 29 Starlinks as $573M Bitcoin Treasury Nears IPO

SpaceX, the aerospace company majority-owned by Elon Musk, successfully deployed 29 Starlink internet satellites on March 19 via a Falcon 9 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida. 

While the launch itself was routine for the world’s busiest launch provider, its significance extends well beyond satellite deployment.

SpaceX currently holds 8,285 Bitcoin (BTC) on its balance sheet, worth approximately $573.8 million at current prices. That makes it the 18th-largest corporate Bitcoin treasury globally, according to on-chain data verified by Arkham Intelligence. 

And with the company now widely expected to go public as early as June 2026, that Bitcoin stack is about to get a lot more attention.

What the IPO means for Bitcoin

SpaceX is reportedly preparing for what could be the largest initial public offering (IPO) in history. According to a Bloomberg report from late February, the company could raise as much as $50 billion in the listing, surpassing Saudi Aramco’s $29 billion debut in 2019. 

Various outlets have pegged the expected valuation at around $1.75 trillion, which would place SpaceX comfortably in the top 10 most valuable public companies in the world.

If that valuation holds, SpaceX would become one of the most prominent publicly traded companies to carry Bitcoin on its balance sheet. While its 8,285 BTC represents a relatively small line item on a $1.75 trillion balance sheet, the symbolic weight is significant. 

Very few of the world’s largest companies have adopted Bitcoin as a treasury asset, and SpaceX going public with BTC in its books could push the narrative forward in a way that smaller treasury companies have not been able to.

The company, which now also fully owns Musk’s AI venture xAI following a merger earlier this year, is reportedly considering a dual-class share structure to ensure Musk retains control post-IPO. Musk is also in settlement talks with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over a disclosure issue tied to his 2022 Twitter (later rebranded to X) acquisition, something SpaceX’s bankers reportedly want resolved before the listing.

SpaceX’s complicated Bitcoin history

SpaceX’s current Bitcoin holdings are a fraction of what they once were. The company first acquired BTC in early 2021, around the same period when Tesla, another Musk-led company, made its widely publicised $1.5 billion Bitcoin purchase. At its peak, SpaceX reportedly held approximately 28,000 BTC, then worth roughly $1.8 billion.

However, in August 2023, a Wall Street Journal investigation based on privately viewed financial documents revealed that SpaceX had written down its Bitcoin holdings by $373 million across 2021 and 2022 and had sold an undisclosed portion. 

The report triggered a sharp market selloff at the time, sending BTC briefly below $25,000 and causing over $386 million in futures liquidations.

The current stack of 8,285 BTC reflects a roughly 70% reduction from the 2021 peak. SpaceX, being a private company, has had no obligation to publicly explain the drawdown. The timing, however, broadly aligned with the 2022 bear market and the collapse of several major crypto firms, including Terraform Labs and FTX.

Musk’s stance on fiat and Bitcoin

Despite the reduced holdings, Musk’s personal rhetoric around Bitcoin has grown more pointed. In 2025, he posted on X that “fiat is hopeless.” In a separate post, he argued that governments can print unlimited amounts of fiat currency, while Bitcoin’s proof-of-work system makes it impossible to counterfeit because it is backed by real energy expenditure.

These statements from the world’s richest individual carry weight, especially as he prepares to take SpaceX public. However, the gap between Musk’s vocal support for BTC and the fact that SpaceX has sold down the majority of its original position creates a tension that market observers have noted.

Tesla, meanwhile, continues to hold 11,509 BTC worth approximately $800 million. The electric vehicle maker has not made any changes to its Bitcoin position since 2022, when it sold roughly 75% of its initial $1.5 billion purchase near the market’s bear cycle bottom. Between the two companies, Musk-linked entities control close to 20,000 BTC.

Why Starlink’s growth matters here

Starlink’s rapid expansion is the primary driver of SpaceX’s valuation. The satellite internet constellation had 9.2 million global active users at the end of 2025, with market estimates projecting its revenue to reach $24 billion in 2026, up from $10 billion the prior year. SpaceX now has nearly 10,000 Starlink satellites in orbit, far ahead of Amazon’s Project Kuiper, which has deployed around 200 satellites so far.

Each successful Starlink launch reinforces SpaceX’s market position and strengthens the valuation case ahead of the IPO. A higher valuation, in turn, amplifies the visibility and significance of whatever Bitcoin SpaceX carries into the public market.

The broader BTC treasury landscape in 2026

SpaceX’s position sits within a rapidly evolving corporate Bitcoin treasury landscape. Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), the company that pioneered the BTC treasury model, now holds over 761,000 BTC worth approximately $53 billion and has publicly stated its goal of reaching one million coins by year-end 2026.

The BTC treasury trend saw a surge in adoption in 2025, with hundreds of companies adding Bitcoin to their balance sheets. However, among the world’s largest corporations, adoption has remained limited. If SpaceX lists at its expected valuation with Bitcoin on its balance sheet, it would represent a different kind of endorsement than what smaller firms have been able to provide.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading at approximately $70,700, holding above the $70,000 support level amid a broader consolidation phase.

Also Read: DDC Expands Bitcoin Treasury With Latest 200 BTC Purchase

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