Electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla refused to offload any more Bitcoin during the latter half of 2022 despite selling off 75% of its holdings in the second quarter.
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In its latest Q4 results report on Jan. 25, Tesla’s financials show it neither bought or sold any of its Bitcoin for the second quarter in a row. This was despite hefty market turmoil in November and December on the collapse of FTX.
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The documents show the company holds $184 million in digital assets as of Dec. 31, 2022, down from its $218 million in holdings from the quarter prior due to $34 million of impairment charges as Bitcoin’s price declined between the end of September and December last year.
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Bitcoin was around $19,500 on Sep. 30, 2022, before dropping almost 15% to $16,600 by Dec. 31.
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The EV manufacturer also held onto its Bitcoin through Q3 last year after selling 75% of its Bitcoin during the second quarter. The Q2 sale added $936 million in cash to Tesla’s books and the firm profited $64 million.
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Tesla CEO Elon Musk explained at the time the sale was to "prove liquidity of Bitcoin as an alternative to holding cash on a balance sheet."
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However, its Bitcoin holdings or take on Bitcoin was not discussed in Tesla’s most recent earnings call on Jan. 25. Based on estimates, Tesla holds about 9,720 BTC.
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Overall, Tesla recorded $5.7 billion in profits from $24.3 billion in revenues for Q4 with its gross margins coming in at the lowest level in five quarters. The company posted a total profit of $20.8 million for 2022 from $81.4 billion in revenues.
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The revenue figure missed analyst estimates but its profits did better than consensus estimates.
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Tesla’s share price was up slightly on the day, closing at a gain of nearly 0.40%. It continued to trade positively after hours, up nearly 4.6% at the time of writing according to Google Finance data.
