A former equities CIO of Goldman Sachs drew an strong response on Twitter after suggesting Tesla should sell its Bitcoin and buy back company shares.

The price of TSLA shares have fallen 28% from $863.42 to $621.44, since news broke on Feb. 8 that Tesla had made a $1.5 billion BTC acquisition.

MicroStrategy’s shares have fared even worse in the short term. The company, which is headed by Bitcoin bull Michael Saylor and just completed its latest acquisition of $15 million in BTC on Mar. 3, is now down 50% from its all-time high of $1,315 from Feb. 9.

Tesla’s share market woes are likely due to a number of factors. In early February, it was reported that Tesla had been reprimanded by the Chinese government over quality control issues after receiving consumer complaints. The broader stock market has also experienced volatility, with the S&P 500 down 4.1% in the last 30 days. 

But the tweet from longtime Tesla analyst Gary Black, who has several decades of financial management experience, sparked a debate on whether Tesla’s purchase of $1.5 billion in Bitcoin last month had benefited investors.

Tesla stock is now down 28% since buying #Bitcoin as investors signal to @ElonMusk that $1.5 billion was not enough.

— Documenting Bitcoin (@DocumentingBTC) March 4, 2021

“I don’t want them buying back stock,” said Twitter user Techgnostik. “I want them investing in growth, and making another billion on their BTC position.”

Black countered by suggesting TSLA would also draw inclusion by more fund managers with a share buyback program, considering it of greater value to the investor than buying BTC “with excess cash.”

Some users on Twitter agreed that a stock buyback seemed to be a more appropriate use of funds, while others felt too much attention was being paid to what Tesla did with 8% of their cash reserves.

.@Tesla‘s mission is to “accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.” It is not about catering to the mercurial whims of short-term traders in $TSLA.https://t.co/93hr25iJ27 https://t.co/eJReXuvPo4

— AMuchBetterFace (@AMuchBetterFace) March 4, 2021

It’s not easy to ascertain the impact buying Bitcoin has had on a company’s bottom line. While MicroStrategy’s share price has halved in a month, shares of MSTR are still up 340%, (from $146.63 to $645.66), since the company announced its first purchase of 21,454 BTC on Aug. 11, 2020. The price of BTC is currently up 310% from the same date.

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Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/analyst-tells-tesla-to-dump-bitcoin-for-buybacks-as-shares-plunge-alongside-mstr-s

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Source: https://cryptopotato.com/bitgo-to-introduce-crypto-custodial-services-to-new-york-clients/

Sohrab Sharma, the co-founder of the notorious celebrity-spruiked initial coin offering of 2017, Centra Tech, has been sentenced to eight years in prison for his leading role in the fraudulent scheme that duped investors out of more than $25 million.

Shama had previously pled guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud, securities fraud, and mail fraud for material misrepresentations made by him and his co-conspirators to solicit investors to participate in the scheme.

United States attorney, Ilan Graff, described Sharma as having “led a scheme to deceive investors by falsely claiming that the start-up he co-founded had developed fully functioning, cutting-edge cryptocurrency-related financial products.”

“In reality, Sharma’s most notable inventions were the fake executives, fake business partnerships, and fake licenses that he and his co-conspirators touted to trick victims into handing over tens of millions of dollars.”

The court found that Sharma and co-defendants Robert Farkas and Raymond Trapani founded Centra around July 2017, claiming that the firm offered a crypto debit card and other digital asset-related products. The group conducted an ICO from July 2017 until October 2017, distributing unlicensed securities in the form of CTR tokens.

To promote the offering, the group issued materials falsely claiming the team had partnerships with Visa, Mastercard, and Bancorp, money transmitter licensing in 38 U.S. states, along with an entirely fictional CEO boasting more than 20 years experience in the banking sector and a master’s degree from Harvard University.

While the team raised $25 million at the completion of the ICO, authorities found those crypto assets were worth more than $60 million at certain times during 2018.

The U.S. Marshals Service seized 100,000 Ether from Centra which it sold for roughly $33.4 million earlier this year. The proceeds will be made available to potential use in a remission program to compensate victims of the fraud.

Sharma was also sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to forfeit more than $36 million.

In December, Centra co-founder Robert Farkas was sentenced to one year in prison for his role in the scheme. Trapani has also pleaded guilty.

Celebrities DJ Khaled and Floyd Mayweather, who promoted the offering on social media in 2017, agreed to six-figure settlements without admitting to wrongdoing in 2019 after Centra’s investors filed a lawsuit against the pair.

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Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/co-founder-of-floyd-mayweather-promoted-ico-sentenced-to-8-years