Tesla announced the sale of part of the bitcoins and profit-taking for $101 million
Electric car maker Tesla is recording a profit on its position in bitcoin, which it opened at the beginning of the year.
Today, Elon Musk's company reported its financial results for the first quarter. In the "Income" section, the line "sales of digital assets" was included, according to which the amount of bitcoin sales was $272 million, and the profit from them was $101 million. Tesla also mentions the sale of bitcoin on a separate slide along with the factors of "positive impact" on the main areas of its activities. Together, they helped set a new record for single-quarter net income of $438 million.
The company disclosed a $1.5 billion position in bitcoin in February. If we proceed from the latest reports, its balance in bitcoin after the sale is still at least $1.33 billion, but most likely it is much higher taking into account the growth of the exchange rate. The reporting rules do not provide for the disclosure of such information. In March, Tesla began accepting cryptocurrency to pay for orders on its website and promised not to liquidate the assets received from customers.
TSLA shares were down 2.5% after the markets closed and a positive session on Monday. Bitcoin is trading with an increase of 8% per day around $53,500. Earlier today, the price of the cryptocurrency rose above $54,000. The February announcement of Tesla contributed to the continued growth of bitcoin, which at the beginning of the year was traded at the level of $30,000.
UPD: Tesla CFO Zack Kirkhorn announced during a conference call dedicated to the results of the first quarter that the sale accounted for 10% of the total size of the company's position in bitcoin.
"Bitcoin has seemed and so far proved to be a good solution for storing funds that are not immediately required for everyday operations and can bring good profits," the company said. – There are many reasons for optimism. We are very pleased with the liquidity of the bitcoin market. When we sold at the end of March, we were able to execute the deal quickly. Being able to exit is extremely important. We really believe in the long-term potential of bitcoin. What we have now, we intend to keep for a long time and will continue to accumulate bitcoins that we receive from customers to pay for cars."