Elon Musk’s Tesla Holds Its $1.3B Bitcoin Position in Q2

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26 July 2021

Despite its recent concerns about bitcoin’s environmental impact, Tesla hasn’t sold any more bitcoin

Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company reported no new sales or purchases of digital assets, according to its Q2 earnings presentation Monday. The company holds $1.3 billion in bitcoin.

Tesla announced in February it had purchased $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin. Later in Q1, the company trimmed its bitcoin position by 10%, a sale that boosted Q1 earnings by $272 million. Recently, Musk also revealed that one of his privately-owned companies, SpaceX, holds bitcoin. 

Tesla reported a $23 million impairment on its bitcoin holdings. This is because bitcoin is considered an inventory asset, which means that under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles its value is recorded at the lowest price bitcoin hit in the quarter. 

In May, Musk announced Tesla would no longer accept bitcoin for its products because of environmental concerns over bitcoin mining’s use of coal and other fossil fuels. Earlier this month, however, Musk said bitcoin’s environmental profile is improving and that Tesla would likely resume accepting bitcoin for payments.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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