Washington [US], July 22: Elon Musk's electric car firm Tesla has offloaded 75 per cent of its Bitcoin holdings.
As per TechCrunch, the company sold Bitcoin holding for USD 963 million. Tesla said the value of its remaining "digital assets" is USD 218 million. In an earnings call, the company's executives said the reason for the sale was a desire to maximize cash positions during the uncertainty of China's COVID lockdowns. "We are certainly open to increasing bitcoin holdings in future. So this should not be taken as some verdict on Bitcoin. It's just that we were concerned about overall liquidity for the company given COVID shutdowns in China," Tesla CFO Zachary Kirkhorn said.
The electric-car manufacturer disclosed in February 2021 that it had invested USD 1.5 billion in Bitcoin, and subsequently sold 10 per cent of its stake that April.
The company's selloff comes after a steep decline in the price of cryptocurrencies across the board, including both Bitcoin and Dogecoin.