In February 2021, Tesla announced that bitcoin had invested $1.5 billion (about 10.2 billion yuan), which caused a sensation. After all, most companies will not invest in this unstable cryptocurrency. However, with the sharp decline in the cryptocurrency market erasing hundreds of billions of dollars in gains made by investors due to the surge in cryptocurrency in recent years, Tesla's 10 digit bet may now face significant losses.
As of Thursday morning local time, bitcoin prices have plunged 17% to about $29000 since Sunday, down about 55% from the high of nearly $68000 in November last year. At the same time, there has been a similar decline in the broader financial market, and investors have little hiding place and can only wait for the storm to end.
Tesla accumulated these bitcoin shares from January to early February 2021, when the trading price of bitcoin was between $29000 and $40000. Tesla's average price for bitcoin is estimated at about $35000. But after months of decline, bitcoin is now worth far less than Tesla might buy it.
In March 2021, Tesla said it had sold about 10% of its digital assets and received $272 million in revenue. As of March 31 this year, Tesla said it had $1.26 billion in digital assets. Coupled with the previous sales of $272 million, Tesla's revenue is slightly higher than $1.5 billion, which means that Tesla's investment has just balanced its income and expenditure before bitcoin plummeted 30% again. However, Tesla may also cash in the bitcoin sale at the right time. If there is a real loss, the outside world will not know until Tesla releases its next quarterly financial report.
