The $1.5 Billion Investment in the Bitcoin market of Tesla was believed to have come at a perfect time for the electric auto manufacturer. China had revealed that five agencies would be questioning the issues around the safety and quality of Tesla products about the time that the company announced its huge stake in the crypto market.
About 8:00 p.m. China Standard Time (12:00 UTC) on February 8 specifically, the State Administration for Market Regulation in China released a short statement:
“The Administration of Market Regulation and the Administration of the Central Cyberspace of China, Fire Rescue Bureau of the Ministry of Emergency Management, The Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology have held discussion jointly on the abnormal accelerations, Over-the-Air upgrades (OTA), and Battery Fires reported by a customer. Tesla Motors Co. in Beijing and Tesla Co. in Shanghai are addressed on the expectations had on them to observe strict compliance with the laws and regulations in China and to strengthen the internal management while implementing the major responsibility of the general institutional quality and safety to maintain the safety of the general public and protecting the legal interests and rights of customers effectively.”
The notable things in the statement released are that first, Tesla Motors is known for a good relationship with the Chinese government as it is the first automaker in the whole of China to be a foreign company. The second thing is that the announcement came just about a few minutes to when Tesla filed a report with the US SEC (United States Securities and Exchange Commission) at about 7:30 am Eastern time to reveal their Bitcoin purchase of about $1.5 Billion worth in January.
SEC Filling Is Earlier Than Usual
Tesla’s filing of the 10-K annual form came quite early this year compared with the past years. According to the SEC file-tracking system, BamSEC, Tesla normally files the form at around the end of February. Of course, in the United States, companies have an allowance of 60-90 days to file their annual 10-K forms.
Despite the bleak news from the Chinese Regulation Agency, $TSLA (Tesla’s Stock) surged upward at the opening of the market in the U.S. on Monday.
Crypto enthusiasts on social media networks like Weibo suggested that Musk manipulated the Bitcoin market. He did all his tweaking but tweeting in support of BTC and changing his Twitter Bio as at when BTC fell to $33,000 on January 29, a price that was rumored that Tesla bought with the coin.
A user on Weibo then suggested that if the alleged pumping is initiated by Musk to favor his position opened for BTC, “the behavior is low.” Low in this context means disgrace in the Chinese meme language.
