Tesla CEO Elon Musk stated that the sale was motivated by concerns about the company's "total liquidity."
Digital Desk: Bitcoin recovered from a brief sell-off late Wednesday caused by news that electric carmaker Tesla Inc has sold over 75% of its holdings of the virtual token.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk stated that the sale was motivated by concerns about the company's "total liquidity."
The biggest cryptocurrency in the world, which had previously fallen as much as 0.5 percent to $23,268.92, was recently up 1.04 percent at $23,494.57.
Tesla sold $936 million worth of bitcoin in the second quarter, more than a year after the company invested $1.5 billion in the cryptocurrency at the height of its massive growth and popularity.
Musk has been a vocal proponent of cryptocurrencies. His predictions about the future of crypto, as well as his disclosures about his ownership of digital assets, frequently boost the price of dogecoin and bitcoin.
On Tesla's earnings call, Musk stated that the sale was driven primarily by the company's production-related difficulties brought on by the Covid-19 lockdowns in China.
"It was crucial for us to maximize our cash position. This shouldn't be interpreted as some sort of judgement on bitcoin because we are definitely open to raising our holdings in the future. Just, we are worried about the company's overall liquidity," Musk said.
Musk also stated that Tesla did not sell any of its dogecoin, a meme-based cryptocurrency he has promoted.
Tesla accepted bitcoin as payment for less than two months before discontinuing in May 2021. Musk has stated that the company may resume taking bitcoin after researching the amount of renewable energy required to mine the currency.
Bitcoin has been recovering along with the stock market this week as investors become more confident in the US Federal Reserve's capacity to reign in decades of excessive inflation.
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