SpaceX bitcoin cache outlasts xAI losses

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is carrying about $603 million worth of bitcoin on its books even as the company swings from an $8 billion profit in 2024 to a loss of nearly $5 billion in 2025, a reversal tied largely to the integration of xAI ahead of what could become the biggest stock market debut on record. Market data cited by crypto trackers indicates SpaceX holds 8,285 bitcoin in Coinbase Prime custody, while financial reporting on the company’s latest results points to more than $18.5 billion in revenue last year despite the steep bottom-line hit.

That contrast is likely to sharpen investor scrutiny as SpaceX advances its initial public offering plans. Reuters reported on April 1 that the company had confidentially filed for a US listing and was targeting a valuation above $1.75 trillion, with the deal potentially raising more than $50 billion. The listing follows the merger of SpaceX with xAI in a transaction that valued the rocket company at $1 trillion and the artificial intelligence business at $250 billion, turning the offering into a test not only of launch economics and satellite cash flow but also of investor appetite for Musk’s wider corporate web.

The key financial shift lies in chronology. SpaceX was reported in January to have generated about $8 billion in profit on revenue of $15 billion to $16 billion in the prior year, underscoring the strength of Starlink and launch operations. By February, however, xAI had been folded into the group, and by April reporting indicated that the combined business posted a loss approaching $5 billion for 2025. That does not necessarily signal deterioration in the underlying launch franchise. Rather, it points to how costly artificial intelligence infrastructure, talent acquisition and data-centre expansion can become once they are consolidated into group accounts.

SpaceX’s bitcoin position, while large in absolute terms, remains modest beside the valuation being discussed for the IPO and small relative to annual revenue. At roughly 8,285 tokens, the stake appears to have been maintained rather than aggressively expanded or sold down, with the value moving chiefly alongside bitcoin’s market price. That steadiness matters because public investors generally distinguish between treasury diversification and speculative balance-sheet behaviour. A passive holding is easier to absorb than an actively traded crypto strategy, especially for a company already asking investors to price launch risk, satellite growth, defence contracts and AI ambitions in the same package.

Still, the crypto holding adds another layer of volatility to an already unusual prospectus story. If the bitcoin remains on the balance sheet into and beyond listing, future disclosures could expose investors to paper gains or losses that have little to do with rocket launches, Starlink subscriptions or government business. That may not be a deal-breaker in a buoyant market, particularly given Musk’s ability to attract retail enthusiasm, but it could complicate efforts to present SpaceX as a clean, recurring-revenue growth company. It also means analysts will have to separate operating momentum from fluctuations in digital asset valuations and merger accounting.

The xAI connection is becoming more central, not less. Reuters reported this week that xAI finance chief Anthony Armstrong had left amid broader executive churn, and that Bret Johnsen had been serving as finance chief of the combined company following the merger. Reuters also reported that bankers were told the IPO could seek as much as $75 billion and that a significant portion of shares may be earmarked for retail investors. Those details suggest SpaceX is being marketed not simply as a space and telecoms champion, but as the nucleus of a larger Musk-led industrial and AI platform.

For investors, the central question is whether the market values SpaceX on its demonstrated strengths or on Musk’s broader vision. The demonstrated strengths are substantial: SpaceX remains the world’s most active launch company, Starlink is a major revenue engine, and the business retains strategic importance in communications and defence. The broader vision is harder to model. It includes orbital data centres, deep links with xAI and a capital structure shaped by one of the most unconventional corporate builders in modern markets. The bitcoin reserve, though not transformational in scale, fits squarely into that narrative of optionality, ambition and balance-sheet unpredictability.