revealed on Twitter that he owns only a tiny fraction of one bitcoin token. "I literally own zero cryptocurrency, apart from . 25 BTC that a friend sent me many years ago," Musk confessed.
Last year, as the value of bitcoin began to plunge, Tesla sold 75% of its bitcoin holdings and used the proceeds to buy traditional currency. The automaker today owns about $184 million worth of bitcoin, and may be holding out for a rebound. The crypto market has experienced a dramatic drawdown over the past year.
Last Updated June 21, 2023 8:40 AM
The creator of Bitcoin under the alias Satoshi Nakamoto is thought to be the largest Bitcoin holder. The Winklevoss twins, institutional investors like MicroStrategy, and governments like the United States and China are just a few examples of other well-known Bitcoin millionaires.
Tesla Inc. said it has sold 75% of the bitcoin it had purchased, little more than a year after investing in the digital currency. The electric-vehicle maker said the sale added $936 million to its balance sheet in the second quarter. The company also said it had an earnings impairment linked to bitcoin.
The maximum number of bitcoins that can ever exist is 21 million, and as of March 2023, over 19 million bitcoins have already been mined. This means that there are only around 2 million bitcoins left to be mined, and once that limit is reached, no more bitcoins will be created.
Their confidence in Bitcoin is so strong that analysts at Ark Invest released a report claiming that its price could be worth more than $1 million by 2030. But for Bitcoin to get to that level, it would need to increase by more than 4,000% in just seven years.
When all bitcoin have been mined, miner revenue will depend entirely on transaction fees. The price and purchasing power of bitcoin will adjust to the lack of new supply. The scarcity of Bitcoin will make it more attractive to investors and users.
Musk has said the sale of Tesla's Bitcoin holding was to maximize its cash position in a time of uncertainty.
"The reason we sold a bunch of our Bitcoin holdings was that uncertainty as to when the COVID lockdowns in China would alleviate, so it was important for us to maximize our cash position given the uncertainty of the COVID lockdowns in China," Musk said.
Tesla made a $140m (£113.5m) loss on its Bitcoin investments in 2022, according to filings. The electric car maker told the US regulator it lost $204m on Bitcoin overall, though it gained back $64m through trading.
The four crypto billionaire deaths within a month gave fuel to several conspiracy theories among the crypto community. One user associated the string of deaths with a mafia-style hit job and said that the “crypto world is taking a page from the mafia handbook.”
Through the fourth quarter, the EV leader maintained its Sept. 30 stake in bitcoins -- but their value melted.
Tesla announced in an SEC filing Monday that it has bought $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin. The company also said it would start accepting bitcoin as a payment method for its products.
Satoshi Nakamoto (born 5 April 1975) is the name used by the presumed pseudonymous person or persons who developed bitcoin, authored the bitcoin white paper, and created and deployed bitcoin's original reference implementation. As part of the implementation, Nakamoto also devised the first blockchain database.
Although Musk's interest in Ethereum and Bitcoin is valid due to the cryptos' influence and feasibility in the DeFi space, his Dogecoin investment came as a surprise to many. He has even advocated for Dogecoin, a meme currency, which makes him different from other investors who don't pay heed to meme coins.
Bitcoin soared to delirious highs in 2021
Tesla directly benefited, as it locked in more than $100 million in profits from its crypto investment.
Tesla Inc.
CEO Elon Musk, the richest man in the world with a net worth of over $239 billion according to the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List, has long been bullish on Dogecoin and has tweeted about his interest in the meme coin, driving its value significantly over the years.
Elon Musk on SNL. A Twitter account promoting the Shiba Inu cryptocurrency did not get what it was hoping for when it asked Elon Musk how much $Shib he owns. "None," was Musk's one-word response. Then Musk followed up: "Out of curiosity, I acquired some ascii hash strings called 'Bitcoin, Ethereum & Doge'.
Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market cap, is a risky investment with high volatility. It should only be considered if you have a high risk tolerance, are in a strong financial position and can afford to lose any money you invest in it.
Bitcoin is pseudonymous, meaning that funds are not tied to real-world entities but rather bitcoin addresses. Owners of bitcoin addresses are not explicitly identified, but all transactions on the blockchain are public.
Crypto winter is finally over and bitcoin (BTC), the world's largest cryptocurrency, has the potential to reach $100,000 by the end of 2024, according to a research report by Standard Chartered Bank.
Ethereum, however, has an infinite supply. In January 2021, there were 113.5 million tokens in circulation. As of April 2022, there are roughly 120 million. There are some predictions that after shifting the Ethereum process from PoW to PoS, the supply of Ethereum may be reduced.
The last bitcoin is expected to be mined sometime around the year 2140. The supply of bitcoin is limited to a final cap of 21 million. This is determined by bitcoin's source code which was programmed by its creator(s), Satoshi Nakamoto, and cannot be changed.