"Did We Sell Too Early"…Tesla Sold 75% of Its Bitcoin Holdings from 3 Years Ago

It has come to light that Tesla disposed of a significant portion of its Bitcoin (BTC) holdings from three years ago, missing out on a substantial profit opportunity.

On the 24th (local time), CNBC reported, citing Tesla's Q2 business and financial performance report announced on the 23rd, that as of June 30, the end of Q2, Tesla held digital assets worth $1.235 billion (about ₩1.7 trillion).

Vaibhav Taneja, Tesla’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), stated during a conference call that, due to fluctuations in the value of Bitcoin held by Tesla, $284 million (about ₩390 billion) in profit was reflected in the financial statements for Q2. This accounts for about one-quarter (24.3%) of Tesla's total net profit for the quarter, which was $1.172 billion.

CNBC pointed out, "Much greater profits were missed due to early selling." Tesla purchased $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin in February 2021, but sold 75% of it in Q2 2022.

The period when Tesla sold Bitcoin was known as the 'crypto winter.' In June 2022, the price of one Bitcoin was around $17,700. At the time, Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO, explained during the earnings conference call that Bitcoin was sold both to secure cash liquidity in the face of uncertainty caused by China's COVID-19 lockdowns and due to an uncertain outlook as to how long these conditions would persist.

As of the 25th (Korean time), Bitcoin is trading at around $117,000.

CNBC noted, “The current price of Bitcoin has risen roughly sixfold compared to when Tesla executed its large-scale sale at the end of Q2 2022,” and added, “Based on the estimated value of the Bitcoin purchased by Tesla in 2021, if the company had held onto all of it, its current value would be about $5 billion (about ₩6.9 trillion).”