Elon Musk and Tesla (TSLA) launched a real bombshell in the crypto industry by announcing that they had sold 75% of the Bitcoins held in the balance sheet of the manufacturer of premium electric vehicles.
"We have converted approximately 75% of our Bitcoin purchases into fiat currency," the maker of the Model Y and Model 3 said in a press release on July 20. "Conversions in Q2 added $936M of cash to our balance sheet."
The announcement took the industry by surprise. The billionaire is seen as a cryptocurrency evangelist. Musk is one of the staunchest defenders of the meme Dogecoin, for example, while Tesla had given Bitcoin a huge boost by buying 43,200 of them on February 1, 2021 at a total price of $1.5 billion. The carmaker became one of the biggest companies known to the general public to invest in the king of cryptocurrencies. The decision was seen as a vote of confidence for Bitcoin.
Not a 'Verdict on Bitcoin'
By announcing just over fourteen months later that they now only hold Bitcoins worth $218 million, Tesla and Musk created an earthquake: Their decision to sell the vast majority of their Bitcoins seem like a disavowal for the king of the cryptocurrencies.
The announcement initially caused Bitcoin prices to drop but prices seemed to pick up after reassuring statements from the CEO of Tesla during a conference call on the second- results.
"It should be mentioned that the reason we sold a bunch of our current [Bitcoin] holdings was that we were uncertain as to when the Covid lockdowns in China would alleviate," Musk told analysts. "So it was important for us to maximize our cash position given the uncertainty of the Covid lockdown in China."
He then made a promise that will no doubt reassure Bitcoin evangelists.
"We are certainly open to increasing coin holdings in future so this should not be taken as some verdict on Bitcoin. It's just that we were concerned about overall liquidity for the company given Covid shutdowns in China."
He also sent a reassuring message to fans of the same Dogecoin coin, of which he is one of the most important influencers.
Tesla et Musk Still Hold Their Dogecoin
"We have not sold any of our Dogecoin," the tech tycoon said.
Last month, Musk said he was continuing to buy Dogecoin despite the crisis affecting the cryptocurrency market, which lost more than $2 trillion in just nine months due to growth uncertainties and a liquidity crisis affecting crypto lenders.
"I will keep supporting Dogecoin," Musk tweeted to his nearly 99 million followers on June 19.
"Keep buying it then," a Twitter user commented.
"I am," the entrepreneur responded.
Dogecoin was created by Palmer Jackson and Billy Markus. The two had said that they'd decided to create a payment system as a joke. The coin was supposed to make fun of the wild speculation in cryptocurrencies. But it has become one of the world's most valuable crypto, with a market value of $9.44 billion at last check, according to data firm CoinGecko.
Tesla and SpaceX, two of Musk's companies accept Dogecoin as payment for their merchandise.
