SELLOFF

Tesla Offloads Most of Its Bitcoin Holdings

The company, which last year hailed the cryptocurrency’s “long-term potential,” sold 75 percent of its bitcoin.

Tesla has offloaded most of its bitcoin holdings, just months after announcing huge investments in the cryptocurrency last year. Elon Musk’s company revealed the selloffs in its second-quarter earnings statement Wednesday, saying about 75 percent of bitcoin purchases had been converted into fiat currency. The move, which comes amid a major cryptocurrency slump, appears to be a major reversal for the electric-car maker, which hailed bitcoin for its “long-term potential” while announcing a $1.5 billion investment in February 2021. CEO Musk, who has frequently boosted the cryptocurrency on social media, reportedly said in an investor call Wednesday that the selloff “should not be taken as some verdict on Bitcoin” but was instead done due to concerns about “overall liquidity” in the company.