Elon Musk is the “Dogefather” and caused more than one controversy within the last two years. Some people blame him for single-handedly pumping the market on several occasions while others are thankful that the richest man on earth blessed their bags. His impact on price movements is still up for debate but the most recent move of Tesla caught the attention of the Bitcoin community.

Why has Tesla sold a large stack of its BTC and why is this not as negative as it sounds.

China is on lockdown

Tesla had to sell about 75 % of its BTC because of the risk that China is shutting down again. The country has a harsh lockdown policy that has a devastating effect on the economy and also on Tesla’s business.

The company has a Gigafactory in Shanghai and is operating at a loss since the factory had to shut down. This creates more demand for cash since Tesla only has the option to shut down the factory for good or burn more money maintaining it.

Musk said during the earnings call that the company remains open to crypto and might buy Bitcoin again in the future. This is good news because it seems that the decision was not taken based on a reevaluation of the asset but rather on the immediate needs of Tesla’s business.

Is Bitcoin still the hardest asset on earth?

Can and will the Bitcoin community ever forgive Elon? Tesla sold $936 million during the second quarter of this year. Meaning that the company still holds more than $200 million worth of BTC.

Many Bitcoiners never forgave that Musk was engaging with the Dogecoin community and now he even sells the largest part of his company’s Bitcoin holdings. But what is more important is that he gave up on accepting BTC for payments last year due to environmental concerns while at the same time accepting Dogecoin in Tesla’s merchandise store.

Once again Musk has triggered a strong reaction within the Bitcoin community with some being angry at him while other still believe that he will play an important role in the future. It doesn’t really matter which site you take. Elon is still into crypto and Tesla is still invested in Bitcoin. If you told that to any person 5 years ago none would have believed that story. Sometimes you have to take a step back after taking two steps forward.