Tesla recently published its quarterly update which revealed that in Q2, the company earned $936 million by selling “digital property.” Analysts understood this as Tesla’s reveal that it offloaded about 75% of its Bitcoin stash.
According to CoinDesk, the sale likely happened before the start of the 2022 Bitcoin winter, when the price for one BTC was about $29,000. As Q2 ended with the Bitcoin price standing at $18,700, it’s likely that Tesla avoided the loss of profits with an early sale.
Bitcoin Falls by 1.7% After the Tesla News
Tesla CEO Elon Musk explained that the reason to sell its “digital holdings” was to maximize its cash position. According to him, the company needs cash due to fears that COVID lockdowns in China could cause problems in global economy. Musk stated, however, that the sale has nothing to do with the company’s stance on Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency.
Nevertheless, Tesla’s decision to sell its cryptos had an effect on the price of Bitcoin. Immediately after the sale news became public, the BTC price dropped down by 1.7% to under $23,000. It’s recovered since and is currently standing somewhere around $23,500. Nevertheless, that’s still way lower than the price BTC had just a few months ago. For instance, back in March, its price was almost two times higher than the one on today’s market.
Musk’s Love-Hate Relationship with Bitcoin
Tesla did shake up the world of cryptocurrencies this week, but that’s nothing compared to the turbulences caused by Elon Musk in 2021. As a reminder, Musk caused a huge spike in the BTC value after revealing that he had bought $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin in February 2021. A month later, he announced that Tesla was about to start accepting Bitcoin as a payment method.
Then in May 2021, Musk made a U-turn on his Bitcoin policy, deciding to stop accepting it at Tesla. The decision caused the price to plummet by 20% within hours.
