https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/16/elon-musk-suggests-tesla-is-dumping-bitcoin.html Skip Navigation logo logo Markets * Pre-Markets * U.S. Markets * Currencies * Cryptocurrency * Futures & Commodities * Bonds * Funds & ETFs Business * Economy * Finance * Health & Science * Media * Real Estate * Energy * Environment * Transportation * Industrials * Retail * Wealth * Life * Small Business Investing * Invest In You * Personal Finance * Fintech * Financial Advisors * Trading Nation * Options Action * ETF Street * Buffett Archive * Earnings * Trader Talk Tech * Cybersecurity * Enterprise * Internet * Media * Mobile * Social Media * Venture Capital * Tech Guide Politics * White House * Policy * Defense * Congress * Finding Solutions CNBC TV * Live TV * Live Audio * Business Day Shows * The News with Shepard Smith * Entertainment Shows * Full Episodes * Latest Video * Top Video * CEO Interviews * CNBC Documentaries * CNBC Podcasts * CNBC World * Digital Originals * Live TV Schedule Watchlist PRO * Pro News * Pro Live * Subscribe * Sign In Menu * Make It * USA * INTL * watchlive Search quotes, news & videos SIGN IN logo Markets * Pre-Markets * U.S. Markets * Currencies * Cryptocurrency * Futures & Commodities * Bonds * Funds & ETFs Business * Economy * Finance * Health & Science * Media * Real Estate * Energy * Environment * Transportation * Industrials * Retail * Wealth * Life * Small Business Investing * Invest In You * Personal Finance * Fintech * Financial Advisors * Trading Nation * Options Action * ETF Street * Buffett Archive * Earnings * Trader Talk Tech * Cybersecurity * Enterprise * Internet * Media * Mobile * Social Media * Venture Capital * Tech Guide Politics * White House * Policy * Defense * Congress * Finding Solutions CNBC TV * Live TV * Live Audio * Business Day Shows * The News with Shepard Smith * Entertainment Shows * Full Episodes * Latest Video * Top Video * CEO Interviews * CNBC Documentaries * CNBC Podcasts * CNBC World * Digital Originals * Live TV Schedule Watchlist PRO * Pro News * Pro Live * Subscribe * Sign In Menu Tech Elon Musk suggests Tesla may have dumped bitcoin holdings Published Sun, May 16 20214:15 PM EDTUpdated Moments Ago Jessica Bursztynsky@jbursz ShareShare Article via FacebookShare Article via TwitterShare Article via LinkedInShare Article via Email Key Points * Tesla CEO Elon Musk implied in a Twitter exchange Sunday afternoon that the electric vehicle maker sold or may sell the rest of its bitcoin holdings, sending the price of the cryptocurrency down. * Musk has been a big supporter of cryptocurrencies, helping rally the prices of digital coins, including bitcoin, several times in the past year. * Bitcoin dipped around 8% in the afternoon. * A potential sale comes just days after Musk said the company planned to hold rather than sell the bitcoin it already has. In this article * TSLA Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX and chief executive officer of Tesla, waves while arriving to a discussion at the Satellite 2020 Conference in Washington, D.C., on Monday, March 9, 2020. Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images Tesla CEO Elon Musk implied in a Twitter exchange Sunday afternoon that the electric vehicle maker sold or may sell the rest of its bitcoin holdings, sending the price of the cryptocurrency down. Bitcoin dipped around 8% to around $44,000 per coin. A Twitter user who goes by @CryptoWhale said, "Bitcoiners are going to slap themselves next quarter when they find out Tesla dumped the rest of their holdings. With the amount of hate @elonmusk is getting, I wouldn't blame him..." Musk replied, "Indeed." A potential sale comes just days after Musk said the company planned to hold rather than sell the bitcoin it already has and intended to use it for transactions as soon as mining transitions to more sustainable energy. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Musk has been a big supporter of cryptocurrencies, helping rally the prices of digital coins, including bitcoin, several times in the past year. In an SEC filing in February, Tesla revealed that it bought $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin. The company later said it registered a net gain of $101 million from sales of bitcoin during the quarter, helping to boost its net profits to a record high in the first quarter. However, Musk seems to have reversed course in recent weeks in favor of dogecoin, the meme-inspired cryptocurrency. Tesla last week also "suspended vehicle purchases using bitcoin," out of concern over "rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for bitcoin mining." The price of bitcoin dropped about 5% in the first minutes after Musk's announcement. Musk has since been hitting back on Twitter against users who are critical of his cryptocurrency stance. Influential venture investor Fred Wilson, a founding partner of Union Square Ventures, tweeted Friday: "He's playing games. It is hard to take anyone who does that seriously. I've lost enormous respect for him over the last year because of it." Wilson added, "Deep respect for what he does with his talents. Less for what he does with his tweets." He's also pushing further into dogecoin. His aerospace venture, SpaceX, announced last week it would accept dogecoin as payment to launch 'DOGE-1 mission to the Moon.' His endorsements have helped boost the price of the coin, pushing acceptance among some traders. Crypto exchange platform Coinbase has said it would offer the digital coin in the next six-to-eight weeks. Other popular trading platforms among retail investors, Robinhood and Binance, already allow users to trade dogecoin. VIDEO1:3501:35 SpaceX accepts Dogecoin as payment for DOGE-1 moon mission News Videos -- CNBC's Lora Kolodny contributed to this report. logo * Subscribe to CNBC PRO * Licensing & Reprints * CNBC Councils * Supply Chain Values * CNBC on Peacock * Advertise With Us * Join the CNBC Panel * Digital Products * News Releases * Closed Captioning * Corrections * About CNBC * Internships * Site Map * Podcasts * Ad Choices * Careers * Help * Contact * * * * * * * News Tips Got a confidential news tip? We want to hear from you. Get In Touch CNBC Newsletters Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox Sign Up Now Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services. Privacy Policy|Do Not Sell My Personal Information|CA Notice|Terms of Service (c) 2021 CNBC LLC. All Rights Reserved. A Division of NBCUniversal Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes. 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