Tesla, the Elon musk electric car company, which made headlines last year when it was revealed that it had invested a lot in Bitcoin, has now sold off the majority of its holdings in the cryptocurrency.
The billionaire electric carmaker reported that he had sold off 75% of his Bitcoin, which was worth about $2bn at the end of 2021. He said he was backing away as the value of the cryptocurrency has plummeted a lot, falling by more than 50% this year, 2022.
Tesla founder disclosed that he purchased the traditional currency with $936m (£782m) from his Bitcoin sales.
Tesla boss Elon Musk was among the top people who were championing cryptocurrency, with almost all his pronouncements on social media often driving significant trading activity.
Tesla’s $1.5bn investment in Bitcoin, was revealed in February 2021 and led to an upsurge of demand for the cryptocurrency.
The price of the notoriously volatile cryptocurrency went up last year to almost $70,000 in November before it fell catastrophically.
One Bitcoin now trades for not less than $25,000.
Tesla, as of last year, quit collecting Bitcoin as payment for its cars, citing concerns about the climate impact of energy-intensive Bitcoin mining.
At that time, Mr. Elon Musk announced on social media that the company would not be selling the Bitcoin that he had purchased.