Early last year, Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) went all in on Bitcoin, investing $1.5 billion in the coin in February and allowing customers to purchase Tesla vehicles using Bitcoin starting in March. Now, just over one year later, the carmaker says that "Bitcoin impairment" has been damaging its ability to make a profit, leading it to dump 75% of its Bitcoin holdings.
According to Tesla Q2 investor filings, the company sold $936 million worth of Bitcoin during the second quarter of 2022. Coindesk reports that the company sold roughly 31,500 Bitcoins at an average price of $29,900 per coin. Tesla ended the quarter with just $218 million in Bitcoin.
Given the cryptomarket is in the midst of a meltdown, it's not surprising that Tesla is starting to sell. While Tesla and CEO Elon Musk have been major influences in the market, the company is just one of the many investors reducing their crypto holdings.
So far, the announcement hasn't had much of an effect: according to NPR, the day before the Tesla sale was revealed, Bitcoin was valued at more than $24,000 per coin. The morning after, that value had fallen to well below $23,000, but later rebounded after Musk said the sale "should not be taken as some verdict on Bitcoin" on an earnings call.
In contrast, the impact of Tesla's initial purchase was much more pronounced. While Bitcoin was already rising in value when Tesla reported its $1.5 billion investment last year, the price of a single Bitcoin shot up by tens of thousands of dollars following the Tesla announcement. As a result, the carmaker netted more than $100 million in crypto investment profits.
However, just six weeks after it started accepting Bitcoin as payment, the company's position on the coin was already starting to turn thanks Musk's reversal of the decision to accept it for purchases. The billionaire cited concerns over the environmental impact of crypto-mining as justification for that reversal.
In its 2021 Q1 earning reports, Tesla also revealed that it had sold 10% of its initial Bitcoin holdings, bringing in $272 million in additional earnings. However, until recently, Tesla hadn't made any other Bitcoin purchases or sales, making the 2022 Q2 report a major change in position for the carmaker.
Also in the Q2 filings, Tesla reported revenues of $16.9 billion, compared to a forecasted $16.5 billion, and the company's adjusted earnings per share of $2.27 beat estimates set at $1.81 per share.
On the other hand, Musk recently called the Berlin- and Austin-based Tesla gigafactories "gigantic money furnaces" that are "losing billions of dollars".
The world's richest man is also facing difficulties in his fight against Twitter. After agreeing to buy the platform in April, Musk later backed out of the deal due to his allegations about fake accounts, and now Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) is suing to get the Tesla CEO to stand by the deal. A judge in Delaware recently set a trial date for the lawsuit for October of this year.