TL;DR Breakdown
- Tesla announces exactly $2.48 billion worth of BTC in its possession
- Leading firm sold some BTC to “test Bitcoin”.
Electric vehicle producer, Tesla, has announced that it hodls exactly $2.48 billion worth of Bitcoin on its balance sheet as of the 31st of March, 2021. The EV car producer made the announcement in its Q1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Tesla wrote the “fair market value of Bitcoin held as of March 31, 2021, was $2.48 billion.”
The top electric vehicle producing company also noted in the filing that they made a net gain of $101 million on cryptocurrencies in Q1 which is based on the realized gains of $128 million through sales and $27 million of impairment losses on its Bitcoin investment during the same period.
Tesla only hodls Bitcoin and is yet to invest in any other cryptocurrency. Not even Dogecoin, one of the most preferred cryptos of Elon Musk, CEO of the electric car makers.
The carmakers made their SEC filing on Tuesday after an investor call where they revealed that they already sold 10 percent of their Bitcoin holdings for $272 million in the first quarter of 2021.
Why Tesla sold some of its BTC holding
Elon Musk tweeted afterward noting that the firm did that to “prove liquidity of Bitcoin as an alternative to holding cash on balance sheet.” In January, Tesla revealed that they bought Bitcoin worth $1.5 billion, and planned to accept Bitcoin as payment for its products.
The automobile makers made good on their promise to begin accepting crypto payment last month when they introduced the option to purchase their products using Bitcoin in the US. They noted the feature would launch in other regions later in the year.
Tesla’s break into the crypto market had a massive effect on BTC price with the price of the crypto shooting up sporadically after they announced their investment. It also led to a rush of interest with MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor joking he would share his manual for buying BTC with Musk. He said it was the tip of the iceberg for institutional investors
