Bitcoin Slips by 9% as Elon Musk’s SpaceX Sells Bitcoin Holdings
Bitcoin Price Tumbles to $26,000
Bitcoin slipped sharply on Thursday evening, tumbling by as much as 9% to just over $26,000. The cryptocurrency traded at $26,839.24, reflecting a roughly 8% decline as of 7:20 p.m. ET.
SpaceX Writes Down Bitcoin Holdings
The decline in bitcoin followed several hours after The Wall Street Journal reported that SpaceX, which is helmed by Elon Musk, wrote down the value of its bitcoin holdings by a total of $373 million in 2022 and 2021, and that the space travel company had sold the virtual currency.
“This is one of the most brutal minute-by-minute sell-offs we’ve seen in the history of bitcoin,” said Ryan Rasmussen, a researcher at Bitwise Asset Management, to HaberTusba. “The current speculation is it’s an Elon Musk/SpaceX-driven sell-off.” He noted that the sell-off is “short-sighted and largely retail-driven.”
Tesla’s Bitcoin Investment
In 2022, Tesla, which Musk also leads as CEO, announced that it sold about 75% of its bitcoin holdings after investing $1.5 billion in the flagship cryptocurrency.
Bitcoin
Elon Musk’s Support for Crypto
The billionaire executive has historically been a vocal supporter of crypto. A recent study found that Musk’s mentions of certain altcoins on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, has boosted the prices of those cryptocurrencies. Back in 2021, speaking at “The B-Word” conference, Musk had also said “If the price of bitcoin goes down, I lose money. I might pump, but I don’t dump.”
Bitcoin Under Pressure
Bitcoin had been under pressure earlier, starting after the Federal Reserve issued the minutes from its July policy meeting. In Thursday’s session, the cryptocurrency slumped to its lowest level in almost two months.
— HaberTusba’s Tanaya Macheel and Sarah Min contributed to this story.
