Elon Musk has become the world's first trillionaire after SpaceX (Nasdaq: SPCX) made its public debut on June 12. While the company is best known for its spaceflight and artificial intelligen
Elon Musk has become the world's first trillionaire after SpaceX (Nasdaq: SPCX) made its public debut on June 12.
While the company is best known for its spaceflight and artificial intelligence (AI) operations, what surprised many is that it holds Bitcoin in its treasury.
The company disclosed in its filing that it holds 18,712 Bitcoin on its balance sheet as of March 31. But the crypto community has been aware of it for years as it closely follows Musk's comments on digital assets.
The trillionaire has often praised cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Dogecoin (DOGE).
Well-known for his frequent use of social media, Musk recently responded to U.S. Vice President J. D. Vance's concern about wealth disparity rising due to artificial intelligence (AI).
Related: Nobel-winning economist has stark Bitcoin warning for SpaceX bulls
Vance appeared on the British entrepreneur Steven Bartlett's "The Diary of a CEO" podcast on June 18, in which he talked at length about the advent of AI.
When Bartlett said AI entrepreneurs like Elon Musk and Sam Altman hold a "very dystopian" view of the technology, Vance responded they have an incentive to be dystopian because it’s a form of viral marketing for their products.
The vice president expressed his concern that if these AI companies make trillions of dollars over the next decades, he is skeptical of them redistributing the wealth among their workers. It makes poor people subservient to rich people, he added.
“You have to give everybody a stake in the society… You’ve got to give the workers a seat at the table.”
He said he just doesn’t know how any wealth redistribution would work out in the AI age.
US President Donald Trump raises his fist alongside Vice President JD Vance as they attend the National Memorial Day Observance at the Memorial Amphitheatre in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia on May 25, 2026. Getty Images
One of the proposals President Donald Trump is open to is the White House owning stakes in some AI companies and building a kind of a sovereign wealth fund, Vance revealed.
If these companies become more valuable, the U.S. government profits which could be used for the benefit of average Americans, he added.
Musk responded to Vance's concerns in an X post and said the age of AI and robots will be very productive, and the goods and services will increase more than the supply of money. In such a scenario, there won't be inflation, he added.
Musk predicted that the world would instead be battling deflation.
His argument is that the AI age will be extremely productive, in which there will be such an abundance of goods and services that prices will decline, leading to deflation.
The trillionaire proposed that instead of the government owning stakes in AI companies, the Treasury should send money directly to the people.
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (bottom L) speaks with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (bottom centre R), as Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk (top R) uses his phone and Apple CEO Tim Cook (C) looks on at a welcome ceremony for US President Donald Trump at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 14, 2026.Let's understand Musk's proposal in simple words.
The government profiting from the AI valuation potentially rising, which is Vance's proposal, benefits people indirectly through different programs.
Instead, the AI companies can remain private and the government can tax them and then send money directly to people for them to buy goods and services.
But as far as inflation is concerned, the crypto industry thinks Bitcoin can contain it.
Even Musk once agreed that the global AI race will drive massive spending and potential currency debasement.
"Fake" fiat currency can be printed but Bitcoin, based on energy, cannot be faked, Musk argued.
The concern over Big Tech controlling AI isn't uncommon.
As the U.S. government suspended access to Anthropic’s new Fable/Mythos class of models by foreign nationals due to national security concerns, Grayscale head of research Zach Pandl argued the centralized control of AI technology "drives home the need for decentralized alternatives."
Grayscale said it expects demand for decentralized AI such as Bittensor (TAO) to continue to rise as investors seek alternatives.
Related: Elon Musk brings back his McDonald's Happy Meal offer
