In 2021, Elon Musk’s infamous company Tesla showed great interest in purchasing bitcoin with the plan to accept it as a method of payment. It was no surprise as Elon Musk had always shown support towards cryptocurrencies, especially bitcoin and dogecoin.
Besides, Musk has been credited for increasing the value of Bitcoin through social media platforms. In fact, a few tweets from Musk and a simple Bitcoin hashtag increased the value of Bitcoin by 20%!
Elon has been fiddling around with cryptocurrencies for a long time, but it was not until 2019 that he actually began to consider the potential of cryptocurrencies.
Stick around to find out more about Elon Musk’s crypto wealth and how much Bitcoin he owns as of now.
Tesla’s Bitcoin Holdings
In February 2021, Tesla announced its purchase of $1.5 Billion worth of Bitcoin. According to Musk, they bought Bitcoin for greater flexibility to further diversify and maximize returns on their cash.
Honestly, it was a bold move by Tesla to purchase $1.5 billion Bitcoins out of their total $19 Billion company worth. Moreover, the $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin gave Tesla enough liquidity in the cryptocurrency that it started accepting payments in Bitcoin!
However, in May 2021, Tesla stopped accepting payments of Bitcoin for its cars. It emphasized that the measure was strictly taken because of environmental concerns.
Musk stated that the farming of Bitcoin uses 1% of global energy, and Tesla, being an advocate of sustainable energy, should not promote this. On the other hand, Musk made it clear that Tesla will not be selling its current holdings of Bitcoin either.
Nevertheless, it did not stop Musk from posting positive tweets about Bitcoin on Twitter. As previously stated, Musk had such a significant influence over the cryptocurrency market that a single act or tweet from him could sore the value of Bitcoin.
When Tesla purchased Bitcoin, a single Bitcoin was worth around $39,000. Following Tesla’s announcement of the Bitcoin purchase, the value of Bitcoin skyrocketed to $44,200 in a matter of a few days! Musk kept with his promotion of cryptocurrencies through different means on social media.
Eventually, in November 2021, Bitcoin’s value peaked at $64,400. This inflated Tesla’s initial $1.5 billion investment into a massive $2.48 billion.
But, the period of glory was short lived because, with the passage of time, the worth of Bitcoin started to fall, which was clearly not a good sign.
Tesla Selling Its Bitcoin Holdings
Following the fall of Bitcoin’s value in November 2021, Tesla sold off 75% of its Bitcoin holdings at the end of 2021. Thereafter, the value of Bitcoin decreased by almost 50%. Hence, Tesla converted $936 million worth of Bitcoin into Fiat currency.
Currently, Bitcoin is trading at an immense low of $16,400. Did Tesla actually make a good decision to sell its Bitcoins? You can filter your answer by reading onward!
Musk stated that the only reason Tesla sold its Bitcoin was due to uncertain circumstances in China since it was still under lockdown due to Covid-19. However, Tesla wanted to increase its cash position in the market, and selling Bitcoin seemed to be the only reasonable way.
Furthermore, Musk emphasized that this move should not be taken as a prediction of the future of Bitcoin as Tesla is still optimistic about holding cryptocurrency in the near future.
Tesla’s Remaining Bitcoins
Despite the Bitcoin dump by Tesla at the end of 2021, it still holds approximately $218 million worth of Bitcoin. Even in the second quarter of 2022, Tesla still owns the same amount of Bitcoin and is likely to remain as is in the near future.
Despite the 75% sale of Tesla’s Bitcoin, it still remains the largest holder of Bitcoin among different companies.
With all that said, the future of Musk’s relationship with Bitcoin seems unpredictable. On one hand, he strongly backs the idea of decentralized and financial freedom provided by cryptocurrency. On the other hand, we see Tesla dumping most of its Bitcoin holdings.
In addition, there have been speculations regarding cryptocurrency usage on social media platforms. Musk has been supportive of the idea of adapting crypto payments on social media applications.
Nonetheless, it is safe to say that no one knows what lies ahead for cryptocurrencies.
The Final Say
In February 2021, Elon Musk’s company Tesla bought $1.5 billion worth of bitcoins. This daring move influenced the cryptocurrency market. Tesla’s purchase of Bitcoin led to an increase in its demand which in turn made Bitcoin more valuable.
Musk, continuing with his positive support for Bitcoin on social media, steered the value of Bitcoin to a staggering high of $64,400 in November 2021, taking Tesla’s Bitcoin share up to $2.48 billion. However, it was short-lived and eventually led to the crash of Bitcoin.
Following the Bitcoin crash, Tesla sold 75% of its Bitcoin holding at the end of 2021, which, at the time, was worth up to $936 million.
However, Elon Musk still owns a colossal $218 million worth of Bitcoin and has many future plans for it.
