Tesla Dumps Its Bitcoin | Crypto Reclaims $1 Trillion Market Cap

JPMORGAN: ‘INTENSE DELEVERAGING’ MAY BE OVER

Bitcoin bounced above $22,000 on Monday, hitting its highest level in more than a month and extended the rally to $24,000 on Wednesday amid a broader crypto market rebound that has pushed the market capitalization of digital tokens north of $1 trillion. The second-largest cryptocurrency, ether, has also posted significant gains following the release of a soft timeline for the underlying Ethereum blockchain’s technology upgrade to the proof-of-stake system dubbed “the merge.” As of Thursday afternoon, bitcoin and ether were trading at $23,181 and $1,579, respectively.

JPMorgan noted in a report Thursday that demand among retail investors in the crypto market is improving. “The extreme phase of backwardation seen in May and June, the most extreme since 2018, appears to be behind us,” the bank’s analysts wrote, adding that “smaller wallets have seen an increase in ether or bitcoin balances since the end of June at the expense of larger holders.”  

TESLA SOLD MOST OF ITS BITCOIN  

Tesla sold $936 million worth of bitcoin, or 75% of its holdings, in the second quarter, the company revealed in its earnings report on Wednesday. The carmaker’s remaining bitcoin stake is worth $218 million. During the earnings call, CEO Elon Musk said the selloff was done to maximize Tesla’s cash position, “given the uncertainty of the Covid lockdowns in China” and added that it “should not be taken as some verdict on bitcoin.”

At the beginning of 2021, the electric car manufacturer bought $1.5 billion of bitcoin and began accepting the cryptocurrency as payment for its vehicles. However, less than two months later Musk reversed that decision, citing concerns about “the rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for bitcoin mining and transactions.”

Source: Forbes Digital Assets, powered by Nomics.  Prices as of 4:00 p.m. on July 21, 2022.

THE GAMESTOP LEGACY LIVES ON

Bear-baiting Celisans, devotees of the CEL token, have been supporting the cryptocurrency at about 80 cents, squeezing short sellers after Celsius Network filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on July 13. The token slid as low as 39 cents after the filing, down 95% from the record $8.03 last year, but recovered to 83 cents the next day. Until the company offers a plan to exit bankruptcy protection, it is unclear if the tokens have any intrinsic value.

To protect their investments, Celsians have banded together under the Twitter hashtag #celshortsqueeze to make it difficult to short the CEL token. Some were apparently incensed at facing margin calls on loans backed by the tokens as they declined in value. The movement asks Celsius supporters to buy CEL tokens on the FTX cryptocurrency exchange—or Uniswap for U.S.-based customers—and then send them to private, self-custody wallets, effectively taking them out of circulation from centralized exchanges.

FORMER COINBASE MANAGER INDICTED IN ALLEGED INSIDER TRADING SCHEME

U.S. authorities on Thursday arrested a former Coinbase employee and two others for allegedly using confidential information from the popular crypto brokerage to commit insider trading—the first case of its kind in the nascent cryptocurrency industry. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission brought the insider trading charges against Ishan Wahi, a former Coinbase product manager, his brother and a friend. The agency claimed Wahi repeatedly told his brother, Nikhil Wahi, and the friend, Sameer Ramani, about the timing and content of upcoming token listings on the platform.

In a parallel action, the Department of Justice charged the trio with wire fraud and wire-fraud conspiracy, saying that Nikhil Wahi retrieved the confidential information from a private Coinbase messaging channel reserved for a “small number” of employees with direct involvement in the listing process.

BLOCKCHAIN 50 SPOTLIGHT

Renault: In response to European regulators’ ever-growing technical requirements, the French automaker ($53 billion 12-month sales) launched blockchain platform Xceed in April to track thousands of car parts going into every vehicle manufactured in 16 factories across Europe. If any characteristics—such as the size of a screw or a headrest’s positioning—aren’t up to standard, the manufacturer is automatically alerted and can then notify suppliers with the push of a button, saving weeks of time on audits. Partners include top suppliers like Faurecia, one of the world’s largest makers of automotive interiors, with $18 billion in annual revenue. By 2024, Renault hopes to enlist 3,500 suppliers in a bid to track every one of its 6,000-plus regulated car parts and features. Renault has also started 20 other in-house blockchain initiatives, tackling everything from car-buying transactions to supply-chain traceability.  

ELSEWHERE

Former Employees Say Issues Plagued The Crypto Company Celsius Years Ahead Of Bankruptcy [CNBC]

Bankman-Fried's Crypto Exchange FTX Is In Talks To Raise Funds After Buying Spree [Bloomberg]

Meet The Crypto Industry’s New Favorite Lobbyists [The Block] 

Michael del Castillo
Senior Editor 
Forbes Digital Assets

Nina Bambysheva
Reporter
Forbes Money & Markets

Follow us on Twitter & Facebook