Tesla saw a net loss of $140 million on its Bitcoin in 2022

• Tesla recorded gains of $64 million and impairment loss of $204 million.
• The company has revealed it sold 75% of its Bitcoin holdings, and held BTC worth about $184 million as of 31 December 2022.
• The electric vehicle maker bought Bitcoin worth $1.5 billion in 2021.

Tesla has revealed that the company sold most of the Bitcoin it purchased in 2021, and suffered a significant loss on the digital assets it currently holds during the 2022 crypto crash.

In its Form 10-K filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday, 31 January, Tesla disclosed that it gained $64 million from its digital assets holdings when converting them into fiat currency. 

However, according to the filing, the electric car maker’s Bitcoin bet also included a $204 million impairment loss for the year ending 31 December 2022. 

All the gains recorded during the year were offset by the net impairment loss, which resulted from Tesla’s move to restructure its operations around the asset. This means the company reported a net loss of $140 million on its crypto trading in 2022. 

“During the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, we recorded $204 million and $101 million of impairment losses on such digital assets, respectively. During the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, we realized gains of $64 million and $128 million, respectively, in connection with converting our holdings of digital assets into fiat currency,” the company reported.

Tesla has sold 75% of its Bitcoin

Elon Musk’s company revealed that it received or purchased an “immaterial amount” of crypto last year. The tech giant plashed $1.5 billion when buying Bitcoin in 2021. 

As of 31 December, 2022, Tesla had sold roughly 75% of its Bitcoin. Per the filing, that left the company with around $184 million worth of digital assets as of the end of last year, down from $1.26 billion at the end of 2021.

While the fair market value BTC held as at 31 December 2021 was close to $2 billion (after Bitcoin price soared to highs of $69,000), the company’s total crypto holdings at the end of 2022 had a fair market value of approximately $191 million.

Notably though, that value could be much high given the price of Bitcoin has soared nearly 40% year-to-date. The company’s stock (think the Bitcoin vs. Tesla stock comparison) has also soared over the past 30 days, with TSLA up nearly 56% YTD on Tuesday morning.