Tesla lost $140 million in 2022 on bitcoin investments

Tesla lost $140 million in 2022 on bitcoin investments
Electric car maker recorded a $204 million loss from the decline in the price of the cryptocurrency, but gained $64 million from bitcoin conversion transactions

Tesla reported a $140 million loss for 2022 from its bitcoin investments. According to a report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the electric car maker recorded a $204 million loss last year from the cryptocurrency's price decline, but gained $64 million from bitcoin conversion transactions.

In the first quarter of 2021, Ilon Musk's company invested a total of $1.5 billion in bitcoin. As of December 31, 2021, Tesla's cryptocurrency book value was $1.26 billion. The company sold about 75% of its bitcoins in the second quarter of last year.

Bitcoin funds are perpetual intangible assets, Tesla said in a report. They are reviewed periodically to determine whether their value on the company's balance sheet differs from their fair market value. The automaker noted that asset revaluations can negatively impact the company's profitability data in the reporting periods in which such revaluations occur, even if the market value of the assets increases at that time.

Tesla's losses from the decline in the value of its crypto-assets have nearly doubled since 2021. In a filing with the SEC early last year, the company reported a $101 million loss from a decline in the price of digital assets and a $128 million gain from bitcoin sales.

The January report to the SEC came less than a week after Tesla released its fourth-quarter earnings report last year. Musk's financial data showed that the auto giant did not sell or buy any digital assets during that period. As of Dec. 31, 2022, Tesla had $184 million worth of cryptocurrency remaining.

Neither its quarterly earnings report nor its filing with the SEC named any specific digital assets other than bitcoin. At the same time, the company accepts Dogecoin cryptocurrency as payment for some goods.

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