Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk has spoken bullishly of autonomous driving, but Tesla's official guidelines direct Autopilot users to stay engaged
AFP

KEY POINTS

  • The quarterly update released in October revealed that Tesla held around 9,720 BTC, making the electric vehicle maker the third-largest Bitcoin holdings among publicly traded companies
  • Musk's latest statement underlining that SpaceX still "has a bunch" of BTC in its portfolio is a first in months following a report claiming that it has written down the value of Bitcoin it owns by a total of $373 million in 2022 and 2021 and has sold the cryptocurrency
  • Dogecoin was trading in the green zone at $0.082102 as of 9:25 a.m. ET on Sunday

Elon Musk, the prominent tech magnate behind several successful ventures such as SpaceX and Tesla, disclosed his holdings in Dogecoin (DOGE) and Bitcoin, underscoring his continued support for the cryptocurrency industry, particularly Dogecoin.

Musk, who christened himself as DogeFather, shared during a recent X Spaces event that he still owns DOGE, the world's first-ever meme coin, while another one of his companies still has "a bunch" of Bitcoin on its portfolio.

"I still own [a] bunch of Dogecoin and SpaceX owns [a] bunch of Bitcoin," the tech mogul shared.

Musk's latest statement underlining that SpaceX still "has a bunch" of BTC in its portfolio is a first in months following a report claiming that it has written down the value of Bitcoin it owns by a total of $373 million in 2022 and 2021 and has sold the cryptocurrency.

It is general knowledge that Musk's Tesla also holds significant Bitcoin holdings in its portfolio, which based on its third-quarter report did not sell or buy the crypto asset over the past months.

Tesla still holds around 9,720 BTCs making the electric vehicle maker the third-largest Bitcoin holdings among publicly traded companies, tailing the BTC holdings of Bitcoin miner Marathon Digital Holdings and business intelligence and software company MicroStrategy, which sits at the top of the list.

The tech billionaire's statement also came at the heels of his statement about Bitcoin being the currency on Mars.

Musk, during the X Spaces event, appeared to have had a change of heart concerning the use of Bitcoin as a potential currency for colonizing Mars.

The Tesla CEO was not in favor of the idea initially, outlining concerns regarding Bitcoin's lengthy transaction times, but he now appears to be more open to the concept.

"It would make sense to use some kind of cryptocurrency on Mars; you couldn't use Bitcoin because the reconciliation is too long," the billionaire said.

However, later in the Spaces, Musk said, "Perhaps you can use Bitcoin to some degree, but it would be difficult to use it a lot on Mars.

"Mars can be like twenty light minutes away. So, it is not easy, there would have to be a localized thing on Mars," he added.

Musk's confirmation that he still holds "a bunch" of DOGE underlined that he is still a fan of the meme coin despite that it has seen around 15.02% loss over the past 30 days.

Dogecoin was trading in the green zone at $0.082102 as of 9:25 a.m. ET on Sunday with a 24-hour trading volume of $398.8 million.

DOGE's latest price action represents a 2.36% spike in its value in the past 24 hours and a 2.06% gain over the last seven days.

Data from CoinMarketCap shows that Dogecoin's current circulating supply stands at 142.65 billion DOGE with market cap at $11.74 billion.