Tesla refuses to sell more Bitcoin
Despite already selling 75% of its Bitcoin (BTC) holdings during the second quarter of 2022, Tesla, an electric vehicle manufacturing company, decided not to sell any more Bitcoin (BTC) during the second half of that year.
For the second quarter in a row, Tesla’s financials reveal that the company did not buy or sell any of its Bitcoin holdings even as it reported its Q4 results on January 25.
This was the case despite the severe market upheaval that occurred in November and December as a direct result of the FTX failure. According to the documents, the company had digital assets worth $184 million as of December 31. This is down from the $218 million in holdings it had at the end of the previous quarter due to $34 million in write-downs incurred as a result of the falling price of Bitcoin between late September and December last year.
On September 30, Bitcoin’s price was above $19,500, but by December 31, it had fallen nearly 15% to $16,600.
After selling 75% of its Bitcoin holdings during last year’s second quarter, the electric car maker maintained ownership of the cryptocurrency until the third quarter.
Sales in the second quarter brought in $936 million in cash for Tesla, and the company made a profit of $64 million.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk detailed the motivation for the transaction at the time, stating that he wanted to “show the liquidity of Bitcoin as an alternative to storing cash on a balance sheet.”
On the other hand, Tesla did not address its Bitcoin holdings or give its perspective on Bitcoin during its most recent earnings call, which took place on January 25.
Tesla is believed to have 9,720 BTC in its possession.
The company’s gross margins for the quarter came in at the lowest level in five consecutive quarters, resulting in an overall profit for the quarter of $5.7 billion, on sales of $24.3 billion.
Total sales for the year were $81.4 billion, but the company still managed to make a profit of $20.8 million.
The sales figure came in lower than the forecasts the analysts had made, but the profit managed better than the estimates that the consensus had given.
The price of Tesla shares ended the day with a gain of about 0.40%, which represents a small increase during the day.
According to Google Finance, it continued to trade in a favorable direction after hours, climbing about 4.6% at the time of writing.
