Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk appears to have signaled that the electric vehicle maker could soon dump all its holdings of Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC).
What Happened: Musk hinted at this while replying to a tweet that read, “Bitcoiners are going to slap themselves next quarter when they find out Tesla dumped the rest of their #Bitcoin holdings.”
“Indeed,” Musk replied.
Bitcoin Reversal: The automaker started accepting Bitcoin in March after it had bought $1.5 billion worth of the cryptocurrency in February.
Last month, Tesla said it had sold $272 million worth of its Bitcoin holdings in the first quarter. The electric vehicle maker showed the $272 million Bitcoin sale under “proceeds from sales of digital assets” in the report.
Indeed
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 16, 2021
But on Wednesday and in the face of growing pressure, Musk announced that Tesla would no longer accept Bitcoin for vehicle purchases, citing “rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels” for mining and transactions.
In a tweet Musk said, “Tesla will not be selling any Bitcoin, and we intend to use it for transactions as soon as mining transitions to more sustainable energy,” he said. “We are also looking at other cryptocurrencies that use <1% of Bitcoin's energy/transaction." Price Action: On Thursday, Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) plunged 12% after Elon Musk tweeted that Tesla will not accept it as payment. It is trading at $45,658, down 5.79% in the last 24 hours, as of publication time.
