Bitcoin (BTC) Back Above $55,000 Shortly After Elon Musk’s Tesla Partially Sells Its BTC Holdings
In the last 24 hours, the world’s largest cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC) has bounced back sharply from under $48,000 to all the way now above $55,000. At press time, Bitcoin is trading at $55,061 with its market cap once again regaining above $1 trillion.
The latest bounce back in the Bitcoin price shows strong resurgence following a major selling last week. Interestingly, it comes at a time when Tesla announced that the automobile giant has sold part of its Bitcoin holdings during the last quarter.
In mid-February 2021, Tesla announced a $1.5 billion purchase of Bitcoin off its balance sheet. The company purchased BTC when it was trading around $33,000 and has already seen its valuations doubling from there onwards.
As per the latest quarterly results, Tesla has liquidated around 10% of its Bitcoin holdings that currently amount to $272 in net proceeds. However, the company has registered a net “positive impact” meaning a profit of $101 million.
Speaking at the Monday’s earnings call, Tesla’s Chief Financial Officer Zach Kirkhorn said: “We do believe long term in the value of bitcoin. It is our intent to hold what we have long term and continue to accumulate bitcoin from transactions from our customers as they purchase vehicles”.
“Elon and I were looking for a place to store cash that wasn't being immediately used, trying to get some level of return on this, but also preserve liquidity," Kirkhorn said. "Bitcoin seemed at the time, and so far has proven to be, a good decision—a good place to place some of our cash that's not immediately being used."
Although Tesla has booked some partial profits of its earlier BTC investments, the automobile giant has already made a long-term commitment for the world’s largest crypto. Tesla has already said that it plans to hold its Bitcoins for much longer period than expected. Last month, the company also announced that it shall start accepting Bitcoin payments against Tesla car purchases.
However, the recent turn of events have fueled speculations whether is Tesla boss Elon Musk used his popular status to ‘pump and dump’ Bitcoin. In a Twitter exchange on Monday, April 26, Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy accused Musk of making a fortune while temporarily inflating its price.
Portnoy tweeted: "So am I understanding this correctly? @elonmusk buys #bitcoin. Then he pumps it. It goes up. Then he dumps it and make a fortune”.
Responding to it Musk said that he hasn’t sold any of his personal BTC holdings. “No, you do not. I have not sold any of my Bitcoin. Tesla sold 10% of its holdings essentially to prove liquidity of Bitcoin as an alternative to holding cash on balance sheet,” wrote Musk.