Elon Musk says Tesla has not sold Bitcoin

Tesla CEO Elon Musk clarified in a tweet early Monday that the electric vehicle maker “has not sold any Bitcoin.”

“To clarify speculation, Tesla has not sold any Bitcoin,” Musk said in a tweet, CNBC reports.

The price of bitcoin saw a partial recovery, trading at US$44,680 as of 2:35 a.m. eastern time Monday, according to data from Coin Metrics.

Earlier, bitcoin’s price had tumbled below US$43,000 after Musk implied in a Twitter exchange Sunday afternoon that the electric vehicle maker sold or may sell the rest of its bitcoin holdings.

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.”

The exchange came 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.