Tesla has sold the majority of their Bitcoin holdings, announcing in their Q2 2022 financial report they have converted approximately 75% of their Bitcoin purchases into fiat currency.
According to the report, this conversion added $936 million of cash to their balance sheet. Tesla ended the quarter with a remaining Bitcoin balance of $218 million, down from nearly $2 billion at the end of 2021.
This is not the first time Tesla has sold some of their Bitcoin holdings. In June last year the company sold 10% as a way to test how easily the cryptocurrency could be liquidated.
Tesla first purchased $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin in early 2021. The investment saw early positive gains with the price of the cryptocurrency soaring to all-time highs above $60,000, well above Tesla’s suspected purchase price of around $30,000.
Soon after the purchase Tesla added Bitcoin as a payment method for their vehicles, making them the first automaker to accept cryptocurrency as payment for vehicles. It was short lived however as the option was abruptly removed soon after.
Tesla board member Kimbal Musk explained that they were not fully aware of the environmental impacts Bitcoin mining had on the environment, and would not add it back until the environmental impact had been reduced.
