Tesla still owns $2 billion in bitcoin, but crypto volatility has taken a toll
By Paul R. La Monica, CNN Business
If you’ve been hurt by the volatile moves in bitcoin lately, you’re in good company. Tesla, run by the world’s richest person, Elon Musk, has been hit by the crypto craziness too.
The EV maker disclosed in its annual report to the Securities and Exchange Commission that it posted a $101 million impairment loss due to its investment in bitcoin. The loss is essentially an accounting issue, and it does not impact Tesla’s overall financial health all that much.
The company still has about $2 billion in bitcoin on its balance sheet, according to the SEC filing. And Tesla did record a $128 million gain on its bitcoin investment following the sale of some of those holdings in March 2021.
Shares of Tesla were up 2% Monday morning. But the stock has tumbled more than 10% this year as investors move out of tech stocks and into more value oriented sectors such as oil.
Bitcoin prices rallied Monday as well, gaining about 4% to around $43,000. But the price of one bitcoin has fallen more than 7% so far this year and is down roughly 40% from its all-time high of just under $69,000 in November.
Tesla made an initial $1.5 billion investment in bitcoin in early 2021. Musk has often tweeted about his support for the top crypto as well as for other smaller, meme currencies such as dogecoin.
The company also briefly accepted bitcoin as payment for its electric cars last year, but reversed course in May following pushback from critics over bitcoin mining, which requires substantial energy is not great for the environment.
Still, Tesla continues to be bullish on bitcoin and other cryptos.
“We believe in the long-term potential of digital assets both as an investment and also as a liquid alternative to cash,” Tesla said in the SEC filing.
“As with any investment and consistent with how we manage fiat-based cash and cash equivalent accounts,” the company noted, “we may increase or decrease our holdings of digital assets at any time based on the needs of the business and on our view of market and environmental conditions.”
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