Tesla Loses $140 Million on Bitcoin in 2022

Tesla lost $140 million on its bitcoin investments in 2022, filings show.

The electric car maker told U.S. regulators the company lost $204 million overall on its bitcoin investments, although it had made $64 million through trading.

Tesla had invested $1.5 billion in bitcoin in 2021, while CEO Elon Musk said the company would accept bitcoin as a payment method. But a few weeks later, the company reversed that plan and sold off most of its bitcoin holdings.

Currently, Tesla holds about $184 million worth of bitcoin.

Elon Musk has been one of the most high-profile advocates of cryptocurrency, and his social media statements often influence cryptocurrency trading activity.

Tesla's purchase of Bitcoin in February 2021 caused the currency's price to skyrocket 25% to $48,000, reaching a record-high price at the time. And in March, when Elon Musk announced that Tesla would accept bitcoin payments, the price rose again. Tesla's bitcoin payment meant that U.S. consumers could secure orders with the equivalent of $100 in bitcoin.

But two months later, the company canceled the payment plan, citing climate change, causing the price of bitcoin to fall more than 10 percent.

A statistical survey by the UK Treasury reported that Bitcoin's global annual energy consumption were about 39% of the UK's, and some other surveys estimate the energy consumption of cryptocurrencies to be even higher.

(Source: BBC)