Tesla’s losses did not materially affect its core operations, the filing said. Year-over-year, the EV manufacturer’s profits grew 169% from $3.3 billion in the first nine months of 2021.
However, Tesla says that it’s only holding roughly $218 million worth of Bitcoin on its balance sheet. Based on current prices, it’s estimated that Tesla still holds around 9,720 BTC.
In its Q2 earnings report, Tesla said it sold 75% of its Bitcoin during the quarter, adding $936 million in cash to its books and recording a $64 million profit from the sale.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk explained at the time that the sell-off was due to liquidity concerns from the COVID-19 lockdowns in China.
Tesla has made no further changes to its remaining stash of Bitcoin in the third quarter of 2022, despite nearly a $1 billion sell-off in the previous quarter.
Overall for Q3 2022, Tesla posted $3.3 billion in profits attaining revenues of $21.45 billion, which reportedly fell short of analysts’ expectations, and saw Tesla’s stock price fall by nearly 14% in after-hours trading, according to Yahoo Finance.
Under accounting rules, digital assets are considered indefinite-lived intangible assets. As a result, any decrease in their fair values will require Tesla to recognize impairment charges, whereas the firm does not make upward revisions for any price increases until a sale. In such beneficial tax treatment, losses can be deducted against profits to reduce tax liabilities, while capital gains are not taxed until the time of sale.
Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, is well-known in the crypto space for his support of digital assets, an affinity for memecoins, such as Dogecoin (DOGE) and his $44-billion ambition to take over social media giant Twitter. Throughout the ongoing acquisition, the billionaire tech celebrity has pledged to “eliminate the spam and scam bots from the platform,” stating, “They make the product much worse. If I had a Dogecoin for every crypto scam I saw, we’d have 100 billion Dogecoin.”
