Tesla, the electric vehicle company owned and operated by Elon Musk, reported $1.99 billion worth of Bitcoin on its balance sheet at the end of 2021.
According to the SEC filing on Monday, the figure represents a gain of 33% from its initial $1.5 billion investment into the asset in February 2021. The carrying value of their bitcoin holdings at the end of 2021 was $1.26 billion, and their market value was $1.99 billion.
In April 2021, as bitcoin’s price reached a new height of $68,000, Tesla sold some of its bitcoin for $272 million and collected $128 million in profit from that transaction. The company also recorded losses in the value of its holdings, recording impairment charges of $51 million and $23 million during the third and second quarters of 2021.
According to the filing, Tesla suffered a loss of $101 million related to bitcoin in all of 2021.
Regardless of the loss, Tesla has said that they believe in the “long term potential of digital assets both as an investment and also as a liquid alternative to cash.”
In its annual filing with the SEC, the company stated, “As with any investment and consistent with how we manage fiat-based cash and cash-equivalent accounts, we may increase or decrease our holding of digital assets at any time based on the needs of business and our view of the market.”
Cryptocurrency prices rebounded at the end of last week after falling throughout the entire month of January. The slope is now headed upwards, led by bitcoin.
As of Tuesday, bitcoin prices were up 5.3% at $43,841.49. Overall, the price for one bitcoin has fallen more than 7% so far this year and is down about 40% from its highest price of about $69,000 in November 2021.
Even though shares of Tesla were up 2% Monday morning, the stock has taken a 10% fall this year, while investors are leaning away from tech and more towards oil.