Tesla lost more than USD 140 million last year betting on Bitcoin, according to a filing Monday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The electric car maker was hit with a USD 204 million depreciation penalty after receiving USD 64 million for Bitcoin conversions in 2022.
In the first quarter of 2021, Tesla invested USD 1.5 billion in Bitcoin. At the time its founder, Elon Musk, announced that the electric car maker would begin accepting BTC payments from US consumers.
Last year, as the value of Bitcoin began to fall, Tesla sold 75% of its Bitcoin holdings and used the proceeds to buy traditional currency. The automaker holds about USD 184 million worth of Bitcoin today and may be hoping for a rebound.
The SEC’s annual disclosure comes less than a week after Tesla’s quarterly earnings report, which showed no Bitcoin transactions but nevertheless recorded an asset value decline, resulting in a USD 43 million loss in the last four months of 2022.