Elon Musk has not always been the kindest person to bitcoin. He has made unfair judgements about it in the past, and when it comes down to it, it seems he’s a much bigger fan of some of its altcoin cousins, i.e., Dogecoin, than he is of the currency that started it all, and yet despite all this, there still seems to be some love in the mix.
Elon Musk Hasn’t Gotten Rid of All His BTC
It has come out that Tesla – the electric vehicle company owned and run by Musk – is still holding some bitcoin; approximately $218 million or so. This is interesting because it was made clear several months ago that Musk and Tesla had sold quite a bit of their bitcoin holdings after the price began to tank. The company had purchased roughly $1.5 billion worth of the asset during the early months of 2021, and for the most part, the company held these units for quite a while.
However, 2022 has been at the opposite end of the spectrum when compared with a year like 2021. The latter was considered a fantastic year for bitcoin and crypto, with the world’s number one digital currency by market cap achieving a new all-time high of approximately $68,000 per unit. Now, however, the currency has taken several massive dips and lost about 70 percent of its overall value. It’s a sad and ugly sight.
The crypto space itself has lost more than $2 trillion in overall valuation just over the past few months alone. Much of that bitcoin purchased in the beginning of 2021 was sold off by both Musk and Tesla, but it appears they’ve managed to hang onto some of it. Despite the negative remarks about bitcoin in the past, one could argue that Musk – clearly a smart man (you’d have to be to become the richest soul on Earth) – still subconsciously notices some value in bitcoin.
He purportedly acknowledges that the currency could come back in the future as it has done before, and he doesn’t want to be entirely out of the mix. He’s holding onto just enough to benefit should further gains happen in 2023.
In a recent statement, Musk said that much of the purchased bitcoin was sold not because he doesn’t like bitcoin anymore, but because the company was seeking ways to garner more cash as COVID lockdowns continued in China. He stated:
It was important for us to maximize our cash position given the uncertainty of COVID lockdowns in China.
A Shaky History
In the early part of 2021, Musk announced that he was going to let BTC holders use their assets to purchase electric vehicles.
Sadly, this didn’t last long, as he later said he was concerned about the amount of energy that was being utilized to mine new units.
