What the numbers say: Tesla's recent earnings report has shown that the company did not buy or sell any Bitcoin (BTC) in Q2. The value of the BTC holdings of the Elon Musk-led electric vehicle (EV) giant remained the same as the last two previous quarters at $184M. The figure stayed flat despite the volatility in Bitcoin price since such gains cannot be recorded under the current accounting rules. However, it still represents a major decline from $1.26B of Bitcoin holdings in Q1 2022. Relevance: Tesla's Bitcoin journey started in February 2021 when it bought $1.5B in BTC as part of its new investment strategy. In March 2021, the firm also began accepting Bitcoin as a payment method for the purchases of Tesla vehicles. The move helped the BTC price reach its all-time high, nearly $70,000, in November of the same year. However, two months after the investment, Musk said Tesla stopped accepting Bitcoin as payment due to its adverse environmental impacts amid the concerns around the use of fossil fuels for BTC mining and transactions. The EV giant also sold off 75% of its Bitcoin holdings for $936M in Q2 last year, mainly due to concerns about the company's cash flow and the uncertainty related to the crypto market. Brands that should care: Meanwhile, several other public companies with massive BTC reserves, including the business intelligence firm MicroStrategy and crypto mining company Marathon Digital, continue their Bitcoin purchases and are still holding a significant amount of the total Bitcoin supply. Most recently, MicroStrategy bought an additional 12,333 BTC for around $340M, taking its total Bitcoin reserve to 152,333. Marathon Digital's BTC holdings also currently stand at 11,466 BTC as one of the major reserves kept under the management of a public company. |
