Independent special committees at SpaceX and Tesla are studying a possible merger of the two Elon Musk companies, but no deal terms exist, Musk said on SpaceX’s third-quarter earnings call on Tuesday 20 October, according to CoinDesk. Nothing has been proposed to shareholders. For bitcoin watchers, the interest is in the treasuries: SpaceX holds 18,712 BTC and Tesla 11,509 BTC, so a merged company would hold 30,221 BTC, worth about $2.56 billion at the $84,660 bitcoin price of 16:17 UTC on Wednesday (our arithmetic).
Neither company has bought or sold bitcoin because of the talks. What is new on the bitcoin side comes from SpaceX’s quarterly filing, which shows its coins carried at $1.57 billion on 30 September, and from the price of SpaceX stock, which rose about 9% before the opening bell on Wednesday.
Merger talks are at committee stage, with no terms and no offer
The comments came on the call, not in the filing. SpaceX’s earnings release, filed with the SEC as an 8-K on 20 October, does not mention Tesla, a merger or a special committee. Its only merger section concerns Cursor, which SpaceX finished buying on 14 August.
On the call, Musk said each board had set up a committee of independent directors to look at a tie-up, CoinDesk reported. His stakes in both companies keep him out of those discussions. “The special committees have not reached agreement on the terms of any transaction,” he said, as quoted by CoinDesk.
He did not hide his own view. Asked whether a combination made sense, he answered “Do I think it would be a good idea, yes”, adding that shareholders would have to back it, according to the same report. He called the process “an odd kabuki dance” in which two groups talk while he cannot be in the room.
Several outlets have written of a “proposed” merger. That goes further than the record. There is no price, no exchange ratio, no timetable and no offer from either board. Crypto Briefing reported that the committees were formed at shareholders’ request.
Musk owns about 36% of SpaceX, or 48.4% counting restricted shares and options, and 19.8% of Tesla on a beneficial basis, CoinDesk said, citing a June filing. That overlap is why any deal would need independent committees and shareholder votes on both sides. Tesla’s next annual meeting is on 3 December at Giga Texas, with a record date of 13 October, and its proxy puts no merger on the ballot, Electrek reported on 19 October.
The two companies are already tied by more than their chief executive. Ira Ehrenpreis, who chairs Tesla’s compensation and governance work, joined SpaceX’s board in February, and Tesla’s $2 billion investment in xAI was converted into SpaceX Class A stock in March, Electrek noted. On Tesla’s second-quarter call in July, Musk said a combination would have to follow “the appropriate process”.
SpaceX and Tesla bitcoin holdings: 30,221 BTC between them
Put together, the two balance sheets would make one of the larger corporate bitcoin holders listed in the US, while staying far behind Strategy, whose stock and preferred shares have had their own difficult month (see our report on STRC falling below its buyback band). Bitcoin.com News put the combined stack at about $2.54 billion and Yahoo Finance at about $2.5 billion; the differences come from the bitcoin price each used.
| Company | BTC held | Last stated source | Value at $84,660 (16:17 UTC, our arithmetic) |
|---|---|---|---|
| SpaceX | 18,712 | IPO and Q2 disclosures; Q3 release states value only | about $1.58bn |
| Tesla | 11,509 | Q2 2026 10-Q (30 June) | about $0.97bn |
| Combined | 30,221 | Sum of the two | about $2.56bn |
Tesla’s count has not moved this year. Its second-quarter 10-Q, filed on 23 July, says its digital assets at 30 June were mostly 11,509 bitcoin bought for $386 million, the same count it gave for 31 December and 31 March. The carmaker sold most of its original position in 2022.
The coins have cost Tesla on paper in 2026. The 10-Q carries digital assets at $674 million on 30 June, down from $786 million at 31 March and $1,008 million at the end of 2025. That is a $112 million pre-tax mark-down in the second quarter and an unrealised loss of $334 million over the half year, according to the cash-flow statement.
SpaceX’s count of 18,712 BTC comes from its IPO documents and its first quarterly report in August. Arkham, which tracks wallets linked to the company, also counts about 18,700 BTC. The third-quarter release gives a dollar value, not a number of coins, so the 18,712 figure is the last one stated, not a fresh one.
What SpaceX’s Q3 results show on its bitcoin
The 8-K lists digital assets of $1,573 million on the balance sheet at 30 September 2026, against $1,637 million at 31 December 2025. Divided by 18,712 coins, $1,573 million works out to about $84,060 per bitcoin. That is our own calculation, and it assumes the count did not change during the quarter.
At 30 June the same coins were carried at $1.10 billion, Crypto Briefing reported after the second-quarter results. So the value rose by roughly $473 million, or about 43%, between July and September. Yet the company is still behind on the year. The cash-flow statement shows an unrealised loss on digital assets of $64 million for the first nine months of 2026, against an unrealised gain of $389 million over the same months of 2025.
Those swings reach the income statement because US companies now mark crypto holdings at fair value each quarter, under the FASB rule known as ASU 2023-08. The release has no separate bitcoin line in the income statement, and it does not break out a third-quarter-only gain.
| SpaceX figure | Value | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Digital assets (balance sheet) | $1,573m | 30 Sep 2026 |
| Digital assets (balance sheet) | $1,637m | 31 Dec 2025 |
| Unrealised loss on digital assets | $64m | 9 months to 30 Sep 2026 |
| Unrealised gain on digital assets | $389m | 9 months to 30 Sep 2025 |
| Implied value per BTC (our arithmetic) | about $84,060 | 30 Sep 2026 |
How much bitcoin weighed in SpaceX’s $4.4 billion profit
SpaceX reported revenue of $14.58 billion for the quarter, up from $5.58 billion a year earlier, operating income of $2.79 billion and net income of $4.40 billion. Diluted earnings per share were $0.35. Adjusted EBITDA reached $8.81 billion, while capital spending hit $19.59 billion in the quarter.
Most of the gap between operating income and net income sits lower down. “Other income (expense), net” brought in $1,025 million in the third quarter, $561 million of it from a related party, and interest income added $873 million. The release does not say how much of the other-income line is bitcoin. For scale, the roughly $473 million rise in the coins’ carrying value over the quarter is about a tenth of net income. No impairment was booked.
SpaceX stock jumps, bitcoin firms with a risk-on session
SpaceX shares, listed as SPCX since June, rose about 9% to $161 in premarket trading on Wednesday, CoinDesk reported in a story published at 09:23 UTC. Yahoo Finance, writing at 14:24 UTC, put the gain at nearly 10% and noted the shares had lost 8% since the June IPO, to $158.59, before the results. Several brokers raised targets, Crypto Briefing reported, including Barclays to $300 from $254 and JPMorgan to $500 from $240.
Bitcoin also rose. It traded at $84,660 at 16:17 UTC, up 2.58% over 24 hours, after $82,700 in the Asian morning described in our morning report. The timing matches, but nothing shows the SpaceX news moved bitcoin: neither company bought coins, and the rise came in a broadly risk-on session.
Tesla reports after the close, and that is the next number to watch
Tesla publishes its third-quarter results after the US close on Wednesday, after this piece went out. Analysts expect revenue of $28.13 billion and adjusted earnings of $0.44 per share, according to CoinDesk. The release will show Tesla’s digital-asset line for the quarter: its value at 30 September and the gain on its coins, plus any change in the 11,509 count. Until then, the Tesla figures above come from its earlier filings.
For the merger, the next markers are whether either committee says anything public before Tesla’s 3 December annual meeting, and whether shareholders get a formal proposal at all. SpaceX’s full 10-Q should also confirm its coin count and the quarter’s bitcoin gain. Readers new to how companies hold the coin can start with our beginner’s guide to bitcoin, and with our report on MSCI’s rule on bitcoin treasury companies.