Tesla converted 75% of Bitcoin purchases into fiat currency in Q2 2022

early last year, Tesla invested 1.5 billion dollars in BitcoinDepends on what electric car maker is Call The “long-term potential” of digital currency. The company has already sold three-quarters of its holdings.

“As of the end of Q 2We have converted nearly 75% of our bitcoin purchases into fiat currency,” Tesla said in the second quarter. profit statement Wednesday. The company said those sales added $936 million in cash to its balance sheet.

It’s a quick dip for Tesla and the CEO Elon Muskwhich has been a heavy booster for cryptocurrency during the lead up to last year, has repeatedly Twitter About different digital currencies. The Bitcoin lost half its value In the past four months during what has been called the “crypto winter”.

For Tesla, the fair market value of its bitcoin holdings is $2.48 billion in the US First quarter of 2021 He ended the year with around $2 billion. The company did not say what price it sold and how much it would drop in value, but bitcoin started the second quarter at nearly $46,000 and ended at just under $19,000.

Barclays analyst Brian Johnson estimated Earlier this week, Tesla would see the value of Bitcoin drop by $460 million due to the sell-off.

“The reason we sold a bunch of our bitcoin holdings was because we weren’t sure when the Covid shutdowns in China would ease, so it was important for us to maximize our cash position,” Musk said on Wednesday’s earnings call. “This should not be taken as a judgment on bitcoin,” he said, adding that Tesla is open to increasing its cryptocurrency holdings in the future.

However, when asked about bitcoin’s potential as an inflationary hedge on the earnings call, Musk said that Tesla’s main goal is to accelerate the transition to sustainable energy, calling bitcoin a “side-show”.

In the first quarter of 2021, when Tesla got big on bitcoin, the company said the decision was to become more flexible, diversify and reap returns from its cash holdings. The company quickly sold 10% as the currency appreciated, Contribution of $101 million of profit in the period.

Kerhorn said at the time that the company’s intent was to “hold what we have for the long-term and continue to accumulate bitcoin from transactions from our customers as they purchase cars.”

In May last year, Musk said that Tesla would do so Stop accepting bitcoin to buy cars due to the environmental impact of mining, but added that the company “will not sell any bitcoin.” A week later, he tweeted his Emojis stating that the company had “diamond hands” when it came to investing in bitcoin, and credited “our coin master”.

A lot can change in a year.

CNBC’s Laura Kolodny contributed to this report.

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