Tesla spent $1.5 billion on Bitcoin last year, but the price of the cryptocurrency collapsed and the company lost about $600 million, or $4 billion.
Tesla currently holds 43,200 tokens, making it the second largest bitcoin holder, according to data that tracks Bitcoin Treasury bonds of companies that own bitcoin businesses around the world. Leading the way is MicroStrategy.
At the current price of $20,500 each, tesla has the equivalent of $905 million in tokens. Tesla lost nearly $600 million investing in bitcoin, compared with the $1.5 billion it spent on the digital currency in early 2021.
The loss is equivalent to 0.1% of Tesla's market value. The drop in bitcoin prices has had little impact on the company's finances.
At one point, tesla's bitcoin purchases generated more than $1 billion in profits after just a few months of investment. According to previous statistics, Elon Musk's company makes more money playing bitcoin in a month than selling electric cars in a year. Tesla said in an SEC filing earlier this year that it would hold $1.99 billion worth of bitcoin by the end of 2021.
During the company's ownership of Bitcoin, the token continued to fluctuate wildly, reaching $66,000 in May 2021, falling $28,000 in July 2021, and reaching an all-time high of $68,000 in November 2021. But on June 17th it passed $20,000.
After buying Bitcoin last year, Elon Musk said Tesla would let customers buy cars using the cryptocurrency. By mid-year, however, he retracted his statement amid concerns that bitcoin mining was having a negative impact on the environment and contributing to climate change. He then revealed the possibility that Tesla would still be acceptable if miners used clean energy.
Musk said he owns three cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Ethereum and Doge. In mid-March, he confirmed that he would remain unchanged and not sell the coins.