Tesla's bitcoin stash grows to $2.48B

Tesla believes in the 'long term value of bitcoin'

Tesla Inc. said on Wednesday that the fair market value of its bitcoin holdings was $2.48 billion, suggesting it is sitting on a sizeable gain on its initial investment. 

The Palo Alto, California-based electric-vehicle maker announced in February that it had invested an aggregate $1.5 billion in bitcoin, and said it would begin accepting the cryptocurrency as payment.  

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
TSLA TESLA INC. 175.79 -4.04 -2.25%

"It is our intent to hold what we have long term and continue to accumulate Bitcoin from transactions from our customers as they purchase vehicles," said Tesla CFO Zachary Kirkhorn.

While Tesla has plans to hold bitcoin over the long term, the company said on Monday that it booked a $101 million net profit from selling a portion of its holdings. Tesla said it does not mark its bitcoin position to market and therefore only recognizes a profit after it sells the cryptocurrency.   

The company has not disclosed how many bitcoins it purchased nor how many bitcoins it has received through the sale of its vehicles.

Bitcoin was trading around $40,000 per coin before Tesla announced it had purchased the cryptocurrency. The price rocketed to $46,000 on the day of the announcement and reached a high of more than $63,500 on April 12. Bitcoin’s price has since fallen to a low of $49,000 before rallying back to above $55,000.

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Tesla shares, meanwhile, topped out at $883.09 on Jan. 26 before falling to $704.74 on Tuesday. They were down 0.1% this year after gaining 743% in 2020.

Tesla believes in the "long term value of bitcoin," Kirkhorn said.