While Bitcoin surpassing $100,000 today, increased the value of Tesla’s remaining crypto holdings to over $1 billion, Tesla initially invested $1.5 billion in Bitcoin in early 2021 at an average price of $38,000 per coin. This purchase amounted to approximately 39,474 BTC.
In July 2022, Tesla sold 75% of its Bitcoin holdings, reducing its total to about 9,868 BTC. With Bitcoin now at $102,000, Tesla’s remaining holdings are valued at approximately $1 billion. Had the company retained its entire initial investment, the value would have exceeded $4 billion.
Here’s an estimate of Tesla’s Bitcoin holdings from 2021:
| Year | Bitcoin Holdings (BTC) | Bitcoin Price ($) | Total value ($) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 (Initial Purchase) | 39,474 | 38,000 | 1,500,000,000 |
| 2024 (Current Holdings) | 9,868 | 102,000 | 1,006,536,000 |
| 2024 (If No Sale) | 39,474 | 102,000 | 4,026,348,000 |
Bitcoin’s bull run took a considerable hit when Elon Musk announced on May 12, 2021, that Tesla would no longer accept Bitcoin as payment due to environmental concerns. The price then fell 17% in a single day from $56,000 to $49,400. Over the following weeks, it fell as low as $28,600 before making a new all-time high in November.
By July 2022, Bitcoin had returned to around $18,900, and by the time it was released, Tesla had only a quarter of its Bitcoin left. Tesla made $936 million from the sale, indicating that it sold for less than its purchase price of $38,000. With around 29,605 BTC sold by Telsa, that equates to a selling price of approximately $31,615.
The post Elon Musk’s Tesla missed out on $3 billion by selling Bitcoin at $31k appeared first on CryptoSlate.