Tesla sells most of its Bitcoin holdings
The electric car firm has offloaded 75% of its Bitcoin, which was worth about $2bn (£1.7bn) at the end of 2021. It is backing away as the value of the cryptocurrency has plunged, falling by more than 50% this year. Tesla said it bought traditional currency with the $936m (£782m) from its Bitcoin sales.
Tesla boss Elon Musk has been among the most high profile champions of cryptocurrency, with his pronouncements on social media often driving significant trading activity.
Tesla’s $1.5bn investment in Bitcoin, revealed in February 2021, prompted a surge of demand in the currency. The price of the notoriously volatile cryptocurrency soared last year to almost $70,000 in November before crashing.
One Bitcoin now trades for less than $25,000.
Tesla last year stopped accepting Bitcoin as payment for its cars, citing concerns about the climate impact of energy-intensive Bitcoin mining.
