Elon Musk said in May of last year that Tesla will no longer accept bitcoin as a form of payment for cars because of the environmental effect of mining.

Tesla bought $1.5 billion in bitcoin early last year, relying on what it termed the "long-term promise" of the digital currency. Three-quarters of the company's stock has already been sold.

We've converted around 75 percent of our Bitcoin purchases into fiat cash before the end of Q2," Tesla stated in its second-quarter results announcement on Wednesday. According to the firm, these transactions resulted in an increase of $936 million in cash on hand.

Elon Musk, Tesla's CEO, was a vocal supporter of cryptocurrencies throughout last year's runup, constantly tweeting about them. A "crypto winter" has seen the price of bitcoin fall by half in the last four months.

During the first quarter of 2021, the fair market value of Tesla's bitcoin holdings was $2.48 billion, and it was roughly $2 billion towards the end of the year. It's unclear how much bitcoin was sold for or how much it was worth at the conclusion of the quarter, although it began the second quarter at about $46,000 and concluded at around $19,000.

"We sold a significant portion of our bitcoin assets since we did not know when the Covid lockdowns in China would be lifted," he explained. Musk said that the organization has not sold its Dogecoin cryptocurrency assets.

The unconventional billionaire made it plain that Tesla's crypto choice should not be interpreted as a verdict on bitcoin, the first and largest cryptocurrency in the world. He stated that Tesla was willing to increase its bitcoin holdings in the future.

According to CNBC, an analyst at Barclays estimates that Tesla would suffer a $460 million bitcoin-related loss as a result of the selloff.

Nevertheless, when questioned about bitcoin's inflationary hedging potential on the results call, Musk emphasized that Tesla's primary objective is to hasten the transition to sustainable energy and labeled bitcoin "a sideshow to a sideshow."

"We want to keep what we have long term and continue to accrue Bitcoin through transactions with our clients as they buy automobiles," Zach Kirkhorn, CFO of Tesla stated at the time.

Elon Musk said in May of last year that Tesla will no longer accept bitcoin as a form of payment for cars because of the environmental effect of mining. Later, he tweeted that the firm had "diamond hands" when it comes to bitcoin investment and thanked "our master of the coin" for the success of his tweets.