--- title: "Tesla Sells Off Most of Its Bitcoin, at a Huge Loss" description: "Now, Tesla has reportedly offloaded 75 percent of its Bitcoin holdings, another sign that major players are starting to grow wary of a \"crypto winter.\"" date: "2022-07-21" modified: "2022-07-21" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/tesla-sells-off-bitcoin-huge-loss" categories: - "Advanced Transport" - "Bitcoin" - "Blockchain" - "Cryptocurrency" - "Future Society" - "Tesla" tags: - "bitcoin" - "cryptocurrencies" - "elon musk" - "tesla" --- # Tesla Sells Off Most of Its Bitcoin, at a Huge Loss ![Now, Tesla has reportedly offloaded 75 percent of its Bitcoin holdings, another sign that major players are starting to grow wary of a "crypto winter."]() *\Image: Getty Images/Futurism\* ## Sell! Sell! In February of 2021, Tesla [announced]() that it was planning to sell cars using Bitcoin, while also buying up an appreciable $1.5 billion worth of the cryptocurrency. While the move initially looked balmy, with the investment spiking in value by an [impressive $1 billion]() by October, this year's crypto crash brought the assets crashing down to Earth, with the value of Bitcoin being approximately [cut in half]() since the beginning of the year. Now, Tesla has reportedly offloaded 75 percent of its remaining Bitcoin holdings, the [*BBC* reports]() — it had [already sold a bunch]() — in another sign that major players are starting to grow wary of an impending "[crypto winter]()." ## Crash Course According to one analyst's estimates, Tesla [may have lost almost half a billion]() from its Bitcoin investments so far. Tesla made $936 million in cash revenue from the sale, helping the company limp over the quarterly finish line, though [barely meeting Q2 expectations](). Investors expected revenue of $16.88 billion this quarter, with Tesla reporting $16.9 billion. One Bitcoin was worth around $43,000 at the time Tesla made its investment last year. By autumn, the token rose to record highs of nearly $70,000, at least in part due to Tesla CEO Elon Musk's enthusiastic [endorsements]() of crypto. But then the crash came. At the time of writing, the token is hovering around the $22,600 mark. ## Hurt Gawker The company is already feeling the hurt from other sources, with Musk [raging about supply issues]() and [laying off ]()[a sizable portion]() of the company's staff. Tesla's stock is also [down over 30 percent]() so far this year, in part due to Musk's [disastrous bid to buy Twitter](). Musk has had a complicated relationship with cryptocurrencies. One one hand, he's repeatedly [confessed his love]() for joke cryptos like Dogecoin — while also writing off Bitcoin as a "[side show]()." Is he finally breaking up with the OG token [for good]()? One thing is clear: Tesla's sell off certainly won't help Bitcoin's horrible year so far. In fact, the currency has already [slid almost five percent]() over the last 24 hours alone. **READ MORE:** [Elon Musk's Tesla sells most of its Bitcoin holdings]() \[*BBC*\] **More on Bitcoin:** *[United States Crypto Miners Are Now Using as Much Power as Houston]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()