A recent fourth-quarter (2022) fillings by the global EV manufacturing brand, Tesla, revealed that the company sold none of its estimated 10,725 Bitcoins throughout the last quarter of 2022. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing report released yesterday, January 25th, showed that Tesla had held on to its Bitcoin over the last six months despite prolonged market crashes from the rippling effects of FTX, 3AC and Terra.
Tesla, which had sold a third of its bitcoin holdings in July last year, opted to hold strong all of its 10,000+ BTC, currently valued at over $230 million, as Bitcoin underwent a brutal value shrink in the previous two quarters. The e-car maker’s Bitcoin value declined by $33 million.
The last sale had fetched the Elon Musk-owned company over $936 million and a throve of criticisms from maximalists who believed that selling Bitcoin while keeping its Dogecoin was a disadvantageous move for the market. The uncertainty following the pandemic and China’s lockdown had forced the self-acclaimed ‘Dogefather’ to ‘consolidate its cash position.’
Beyond Bitcoin, the reports further reveal a decent profit margin for the company. Its $24.07 billion estimated revenue margin was surpassed by approximately $200 million, bringing the total revenue for 2022 to 24.35 billion. It had closed the quarter with $1.19 earnings per share, as against the projected $1.12. Over 73,778 cars were produced during the period, and a total income of $4.1 billion was realized.
Back in 2021, the Tesla boss had hinted at plans of accepting Bitcoin as payment for Tesla. Over $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin was purchased, with a disclosure that the company would hold bitcoin payments and not convert them to cash. The dream was soon short-lived as Elon called off plans sighting environmental concerns.
Bitcoin has since surpassed the 50% renewable energy condition given by Musk. According to the Bitcoin mining council, its mining and computing activities are responsible for a meagre 0.0017% of the world’s energy usage and 0.0011% of the world’s carbon emissions.
It is yet unknown if Elon would stay true to the promise of accepting Bitcoin, as this may demand billions worth of Bitcoin purchases to strengthen the company’s liquidity position.
Both Bitcoin and Tesla’s stock value briefly rallied upwards on the heel of the findings, with Bitcoin gaining 3% to peak at $22,963 and Tesla (TSLA) edging up 0.4% to reach $144.43.
