Tesla’s Q1 update has revealed that it is holding onto its $321 million worth of bitcoin. This marks the third consecutive quarter that Tesla has kept its crypto holdings the same, purportedly due to the company’s decision not to buy or sell in the first quarter of 2023.
According to the Q1 update, the digital assets held by the company at the end of the first quarter of 2023 remained flat at $184 million, despite the rise in BTC to about $28,500 from $16,500 three months earlier. This is the third straight quarter that Tesla has not changed its amount of bitcoin holdings.
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, continues to encourage various cryptocurrencies in general and has recently referenced Dogecoin (DOGE) in interviews. In 2021, Tesla invested $1.5 billion in bitcoin. As of February 2023, the company owned 9,700 of them.
According to Reuters, Tesla posted a net profit of $2.5 billion, down from $3.32 billion a year ago, while also missing market expectations for their Q1 margin. This was fueled by drastic price cuts intended to boost demand in a faltering economy and fend off growing competition. Tesla still anticipates delivering around 1.8 million cars this year.
Tesla’s inconsistent relationship with crypto
Tesla started buying bitcoin in February 2021 for $1.5 billion, and its holdings were worth $2.5 billion at a certain point. But in the second quarter of 2022, the business only sold around three-quarters of that total. Tesla possessed $218 million in bitcoin in Q2 and Q3 before losing some of that value due to market volatility and its sales.
The firm’s erratic dealings with cryptocurrencies are well documented. Tesla briefly took bitcoin as payment, but it stopped doing so because of the harm that cryptocurrency mining causes to the environment. Dogecoin (DOGE) is now accepted by Tesla for some products.
The current drop in bitcoin (BTC) price to under $30,000, currently at $28,713.00, highlights the cryptocurrency market’s volatility. Despite recent fluctuations in the price of bitcoin, according to Tesla’s accounting procedures, the company’s assets have not changed in value overall.
Tesla’s stock price is currently down by 2.02% and trading at $180.59 after hours.
