Tesla has sold three-quarters of its bitcoin holdings, the Elon Musk-led automaker said Wednesday.
The sales took place from April through June 2022, according to the company’s earnings report on Wednesday.
“As of the end of the second quarter, we have converted approximately 75% of our Bitcoin purchases to fiat currency,” Tesla wrote.
The conversions added $936 million in cash to Tesla’s balance sheet.
Tesla also noted that it had hurt its profitability due to its bitcoin holdings when the cryptocurrency market crashed in the second quarter, although it is unclear exactly how much money the company lost.
In a CNBC interview on Monday, Barclays analyst Brian Johnson predicted Tesla would take a bitcoin depreciation of up to $460 million.
Bitcoin fell about 3% from about $23,750 to $23,025 in the minutes following the release of Tesla’s earnings report.
Tesla shares, meanwhile, were up 1.5% to $742.50 in after-hours trading.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has promoted bitcoin. AP
Tesla bought $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin in January 2021 and began accepting the cryptocurrency as payment for vehicles in March of that year. The company stopped accepting bitcoin in May due to concerns over fossil fuel use in crypto mining and has not resumed.
Elsewhere in Tesla’s earnings on Wednesday, the company reported an increase in quarterly profit as a series of price increases for its best-selling vehicles helped offset manufacturing challenges.
Total sales fell to $16.93 billion in the second quarter from $18.76 billion a year earlier, ending the company’s record sales in recent quarters as it struggled to meet demand for its electric vehicle. cars due to a Shanghai factory shutdown and production challenges at new plants.
Analysts expected revenue of $17.10 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
With Post wires
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