Tesla CEO noted that the sale “should not be taken as a finding on Bitcoin” and is “certainly hospitable increasing our Bitcoin holdings in the future.”
Crypto industry experts are for the most part unfazed by Tesla’s call to sell seventy fifth of its Bitcoin (BTC) holdings, saying it’s a reasonably typical strategy for companies to boost income throughout economic slowdowns.
On Wednesday, the electric vehicle manufacturer disclosed that it had sold-out 75% of its Bitcoin holdings in Q2, adding $936 million in act to its record.
During a call, Tesla chief operating officer Elon Musk noted that the sale “should not be taken as a finding of fact on Bitcoin,” explaining that the move was due to liquidity issues given the continuing COVID-19 lockdowns in China.
“The reason we sold a bunch of our Bitcoin holdings was that we were unsure on once the Covid lockdowns in China would alleviate. therefore it was important for America to maximise our cash position:”
“We are certainly open to increasing our Bitcoin holdings in the future.”
Asked by investors during the earnings call whether he saw Bitcoin as a long-term plus, Musk same the cryptocurrency was a “sideshow to the sideshow” of Tesla’s main goal, that is “to accelerate the advent of stable energy.”
“Cryptocurrency isn't something we think of a lot,” he said.
Markus Thielen, chief investment officer at Singapore-based digital plus manager IDEG, told Cointelegraph that Tesla probably sold-out off its Bitcoin because it was “seen as a distraction from their core business:”
“I would not be surprised if Tesla keeps nibbling in Bitcoin when Bitcoin stabilizes, otherwise they would have sold 100%.”
Comparison web site Finder’s share commercialism skilled kylie purcell explained that the electrical automaker hasn’t been alone in its call to “shore up capital in money currencies.”
“With the globe heading into an economic slowdown and probably a recession, it’s not unusual for investors and firms to move capital off from more volatile assets into act currency,” she noted.
She conjointly additional that whereas the worth of Bitcoin swayback following the announcement, there area unit already signs of recovery.
On Wednesday, Bitcoin’s value fell just about two.6% following Tesla’s announcement and has came to $23,299 at the time of writing — pursuit near to its one-month high, which means that the crypto community might not are too involved by the announcement.
The muted reaction to the sale played out otherwise from the announcement in Feb last year that Telsa had scooped up $1.5 billion in BTC to feature to its record and was designing on acceptive Bitcoin as payment for certain products (though this was later scrapped).
The news at the time saw Bitcoin’s worth immediately jump by virtually $3,000, bringing the cryptocurrency to a replacement all-time high above $43,000.
( Felix NG, Cointelegraph, 2022 )