Tesla Holding Bitcoin Worth $2 Billion — Sees Crypto as Both Investment and Liquid Alternative to Cash

Elon Musk’s electric car company, Tesla, has filed an annual report with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) showing bitcoin holdings with a fair value of almost $2 billion at the end of December. The company sees crypto as both an investment and liquid alternative to cash.

Tesla filed an annual report with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Friday.

“We continue adapting our investment strategy to meet our liquidity and risk objectives, such as investing in U.S. government and other marketable securities, digital assets and providing product-related financing,” the company wrote, adding:

The fair market value of our bitcoin holdings as of December 31, 2021, was $1.99 billion.

The report explains that Tesla bought $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin in early 2021 and later accepted the cryptocurrency as a form of payment for certain products in some regions. However, the electric car company suspended accepting BTC in May last year. In October, Tesla told the SEC that it may restart accepting cryptocurrencies.

Tesla’s latest financial statement shows that the company’s “carrying value” of its bitcoin at the end of December was $1.26 billion, which reflects cumulative impairments of $101 million. Tesla also “had $17.58 billion of cash and cash equivalents” as of Dec. 31. The company noted:

In the year ended December 31, 2021, we recorded approximately $101 million of impairment losses resulting from changes to the carrying value of our bitcoin and gains of $128 million on certain sales of bitcoin by us.

The electric car company further told the SEC, “We may increase or decrease our holdings of digital assets at any time based on the needs of the business and on our view of market and environmental conditions,” elaborating:

We believe in the long-term potential of digital assets both as an investment and also as a liquid alternative to cash.

Tesla’s 2021 annual report does not include income from the meme cryptocurrency dogecoin (DOGE), which the company began accepting for payments for some merchandise in January this year. Elon Musk has said on several occasions that dogecoin is the best crypto for transactions while bitcoin is more suitable as a store of value.

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