Tesla has sold off most of its Bitcoin holdings.
Last year, the electric car manufacturer announced a major investment in the cryptocurrency, but the firm has now sold 75% of its Bitcoin, which was valued at around $2 billion (£1.7 billion) at the end of 2021.
The value of the cryptocurrency has plummeted by more than half in 2022, and Tesla has bought traditional currency with the $936 million (£782 million) it made from its sales.
In its second quarter earnings statement on Wednesday (20.07.22), the company said: "As of the end of Q2, we have converted approximately 75% of our Bitcoin purchases into fiat currency."
Speaking during the earnings call, the firm's CEO Elon Musk added: "The reason we sold a bunch of our bitcoin holdings was that we were uncertain as to when the COVID lockdowns in China would alleviate so it was important for us to maximize our cash position.
“We are certainly open to increasing our bitcoin holdings in future, so this should not be taken as some verdict on Bitcoin.
"It's just that we were concerned about overall liquidity for the company."
In May 2021, Tesla stopped accepting Bitcoin as payment after less than two months, but Musk has insisted the company could start accepting it again after investigating the amount of renewable energy used to mine the currency.
