Tesla CEO Elon Musk is opening the lid on why the electric car maker disposed of a large chunk of its Bitcoin (BTC) holdings.
In a second-quarter earnings call, Musk says Tesla sold a big portion of its Bitcoin in order to raise cash amid uncertainty in one of the electric carmaker’s major markets and manufacturing hub.
“It should be mentioned that the reason we sold a bunch of our Bitcoin holdings was that we were uncertain as to when the Covid-19 lockdowns in China would alleviate. So it was important for us to maximize our cash position, given the uncertainty of the Covid-19 lockdowns in China.”
Tesla sold three-quarters of its Bitcoin holdings raising nearly $1 billion during the quarter that ended on June 30th.
“As of the end of Q2, we have converted approximately 75% of our Bitcoin purchases into fiat currency. Conversions in Q2 added $936M of cash to our balance sheet.”
As of June 30, the total worth of Tesla’s remaining Bitcoin stood at $218 million.
While leaving open the possibility that Tesla could add more Bitcoin in the future, the world’s richest person says that the electric carmaker’s Dogecoin (DOGE) holdings were left untouched.
“We are certainly open to increasing our Bitcoin holdings in the 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-19 shutdowns in China. And we have not sold any of our Dogecoin.”
According to Musk, crypto assets are a “sideshow to the sideshow” for Tesla.
“Tesla’s goal is to accelerate the advent of sustainable energy. Cryptocurrency is a sideshow to the sideshow. Cryptocurrency is not something we think about a lot.”
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