Bitcoin Charts Recovery As Elon Musk Clarifies Tesla Has Not Sold Any Part Of Its Crypto Holding

Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk made it clear on Twitter early Monday that the automaker has not sold any Bitcoin (BTC).

What Happened: Post Musk’s tweet at press time, BTC was trading at $44,911.04  at press time. While down 8.66% over 24 hours, the apex cryptocurrency is trading 6.21% higher than its intraday low of $42,284.57 that was hit minutes ahead of Musk's tweet.

Musk aimed to rest speculation in his tweet as to the state of Tesla’s BTC holdings. 

To clarify speculation, Tesla has not sold any Bitcoin

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 17, 2021

Earlier on Sunday, a reply to a tweet from the Tesla CEO had given rise to the speculation that the electric vehicle maker might dump its BTC holdings.

Why It Matters: Tesla reported selling $272 million worth of Bitcoin in the first quarter this year. In the same quarter, the automaker had purchased BTC worth $1.5 billion — emerging as a major institutional investor.

Last week, the automaker said it would no longer accept Bitcoin for vehicle purchases citing the cryptocurrency’s environmental impact.

At the time, Musk had said Tesla is exploring the use of other digital currencies that use less than 1% of BTC’s energy. 

The announcement had led to another major drop in the price of Bitcoin. All-in-all, BTC is down 23.92% in a seven-day trailing period.

Price Action: TSLA shares closed 3.16% higher at $589.74 in Friday's regular session.

Read Next: Portnoy On Dogecoin Surge Says Elon Musk Is The 'Best Market Manipulator In History Of Earth'