Tesla’s latest balance sheet shows the company’s bitcoin holdings worth $184 million. Tesla did not sell any digital assets in Q4 2022 despite the crypto winter and contagion in the crypto ecosystem.
Tesla digital assets valued at $184 million
Tesla Inc. (Nasdaq: TSLA) released its earnings results for the fourth quarter of 2022 on Wednesday. The company’s balance sheet shows net digital assets of $184 million, up from $218 million in the prior quarter. According to its other financial statements, no digital assets were bought or sold during the fourth quarter.
The digital assets of the electric car company mainly comprise bitcoin. The reduced value of your crypto holdings is due to fluctuations in the price of BTC, which generated an impairment charge of $34 million. At the time of writing, bitcoin is trading at $23,087; it fell from around $47.8K to around $16.6K during 2022.
Tesla hasn’t revealed how many bitcoins it owns, but it does reveal an industry estimate suggests that you are withholding about 9,720 BTC. In addition to bitcoin, Tesla also owns a small amount of dogecoin (DOGE) which he acquired by selling some products for the meme cryptocurrency. The company began accepting dogecoin payments for some merchandise in January of last year.
Tesla bought $1.5 billion of BTC in early 2021 and has not purchased since. However, the company discarded around 75% of its BTC shares in the second quarter of last year. CEO Elon Musk explained at one point that Tesla sold its BTC in order to maximize its cash position due to uncertainty about “when the Covid lockdowns in China would be eased.” He emphasized: “We are certainly open to increasing our bitcoin holdings in (the) future, so this should not be taken as a verdict on bitcoin.” He also mentioned that the company did not sell any DOGE.
Musk himself personally owns bitcoin, ether, and dogecoin. He tweeted in March of last year that he still owns and will not be selling any of the three cryptocurrencies. “I still have and will not sell my bitcoin, ethereum or doge,” the billionaire wrote.
On Tesla’s earnings call with analysts Wednesday afternoon, Musk reiterated: “There are going to be bumps in the road and we’re probably going to have a pretty tough recession this year, probably. I hope not, but probably.” Although he cautioned that “one cannot predict the value of stocks in the short term,” the Tesla boss emphasized:
But in the long run, I am convinced that Tesla will be the most valuable company on Earth.
What do you think of Tesla saving bitcoins during the crypto winter? Let us know in the comments section.
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