Breaking: Tesla Sells 75% of Its Bitcoin, But Open to Buying More in the Future

Tesla Sells Bitcoin Amid Tough Times

Tesla has been having a rough patch as of late. At 766.98, its stock price has fallen by 33% in the year to date, and by 37.6% since an all-time high of 1,229 in November.

To make matters worse, the manufacturer also recorded a 31.9% decline in net income between Q1 and Q2 2022, from $3.318 billion to $2.259 billion.

This follows remarks from CEO Elon Musk, who in June was reported as saying he has a “super bad feeling” about the US and global economy. These remarks were taken from internal Tesla emails, in which Musk also discussed reducing the company’s headcount by around 10%.

Twitter and Bullishness

There’s also the fact that Musk is currently being sued by Twitter, with a Delaware judge recently decreeing that the trial between the two parties shall begin in October. Twitter is claiming that Musk is trying to finagle his way out of a legally binding contract to purchase the social media company for $44 billion, a price which valued the firm’s shares at $54.20. Now, Twitter’s stock stands at $39.60, meaning that Musk will be paying well over the odds if he is forced to proceed with the purchase.

Interestingly, there’s a chance Musk could walk away from the deal by paying a fine of $1 billion. This figure seems eerily close to the amount of money Tesla received for selling its BTC.

Regardless, all of the above suggests that Tesla’s sale of its bitcoin is more of a reflection on the car manufacturer than it is on Bitcoin or crypto. In fact, Musk admitted just as much in a conference call with analysts yesterday:

“We are certainly open to increasing our Bitcoin 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. And we have not sold any of our Dogecoin.”

The price of BTC is still up by 13.5% in the past week, while the total cap of the entire cryptocurrency market is also up by basically the same percentage, at $1.068 trillion.

Many members of the cryptocurrency ‘community’ have argued that the news of Tesla’s sale is more or less bullish for Bitcoin. Reasons given include the fact that Tesla’s bitcoin has now (mostly) gone to “more reliable and less erratic actors,” and that the sale proves that the cryptocurrency is liquid enough to be bought and sold in large quantities without crippling its price.

Source: Twitter

Looking at the picture, it seems that Bitcoin and crypto will easily survive to live another day. As for Tesla, it remains the world’s biggest car manufacturer by market capitalization, but it possibly has some bumpy road left to navigate.