Tesla company sold 10% of its Bitcoin holdings in the first quarter of 2021… and Elon Musk explains!
Tesla, the electric car manufacturer led by Elon Musk, revealed that it has sold part of its Bitcoin holdings, and this comes after its $ 1 billion Bitcoin purchase earlier in 2021.
In its earnings report, Tesla said it sold $ 272 million worth of Bitcoin in the first quarter of 2021.
With the bitcoin price rising since the acquisition, the company's bitcoin value may have grown to $ 2.72 billion, indicating that Tesla likely sold 10% of its bitcoin holdings.
According to the report, the bitcoin sale helped generate a positive impact of $ 101 million.
The company made headlines after it was revealed that it had bought $ 1.5 billion in Bitcoin in January 2021.
Tesla's purchase of Bitcoin at that time caused the price of the largest cryptocurrency to rise by market value.
Later in March, Tesla announced that it was accepting Bitcoin as a payment method for the purchase of its vehicles.
Meanwhile, the company stated that the received bitcoin will not be converted into fiat currency.
But it recently sold 10% of its bitcoin, contrary to what it said earlier that it will not convert Bitcoin into fiat currencies.
- Elon Musk clarification:
Elon Musk explained, in a recent tweet, he responded to the criticism directed at Tesla after it sold 10% of the bitcoin that is owned, saying:
I have not sold any of my Bitcoins.Tesla sold 10% of its holdings mainly to increase liquidity and Bitcoin remains an alternative to keeping cash in the company's balance sheet.
No, you do not. I have not sold any of my Bitcoin. Tesla sold 10% of its holdings essentially to prove liquidity of Bitcoin as an alternative to holding cash on balance sheet.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 26, 2021
The price of Bitcoin saw a massive drop over the past weekend, as the main cryptocurrency traded at around $ 47,000 after earlier reaching an all-time high of $ 65,000.
At the time of writing this article, Bitcoin is trading at just over $ 54,500.
The adoption of Bitcoin continues as many companies have recently added Bitcoin to their balance sheets or as a payment method on their platforms.
Recently, WeWork, a company specialized in providing and renting flexible workspaces, has accepted Bitcoin, USDC, Ethereum, and Paxos as payment methods.
MicroStrategy recently announced that its non-employee managers will be paid in bitcoin.