Tesla Reports Selling Bitcoin at an Average Price of $29,693

Tesla announced in its quarterly earnings report released on Wednesday that it had sold three-quarters of its bitcoin holdings.

“As of the end of Q2, we have converted approximately 75 percent of our Bitcoin purchases into fiat currency,” the company said. “Conversions in Q2 added $936M of cash to our balance sheet.”

The company announced in February 2021 that it had invested $1.5 billion in bitcoin — worth about 46,700 tokens at an average price of $32,500. It sold 10 percent of its supply later in the year for $272 million, or about $58,200. Seventy-five percent of the remainder as of June would amount to 31,455 tokens, while the reported income of $936 million indicates the company sold at an average price of $29,693.

The $272 million in profit-taking would have left Tesla with a cost-basis of $29,217, meaning it sold the latest stash at its breakeven price. It also means Tesla still has 15,177 bitcoin on hand — assuming it didn’t sell any in July — worth $350 million as of Monday evening.

Crypto markets briefly dipped on the news. Bitcoin led the way, declining by a little more than 3 percent, from more than $23,700 to about $22,950. It surged back to $23,300 within the hour. By contrast, bitcoin’s price surged by 17 percent in 2021 after Tesla announced the purchase.

Tesla’s sale came as part of a wider sell-off by Tesla CEO Elon Musk. He sold more than $8 billion in Tesla stock in April — when it was more than $1,000 — in purported preparation to purchase Twitter. (He moved to nix that deal this month.) And in June, Musk announced that he was reducing Tesla’s salaried headcount by 10 percent, telling staff he had a “super bad feeling” about the economy.

In a statement after Wednesday evening’s report, Musk said Tesla sold its bitcoin holdings because of “uncertainty” related to Covid-19 lockdowns in China. However, he said the company had not sold any of its Dogecoin holdings. Tesla began accepting the meme coin as payment for some of its merchandise in January.

The company similarly began accepting bitcoin for vehicle sales in March 2021, but said 49 days later it was ending the policy because — Musk said at the time — bitcoin didn’t use “sustainable energy.” The shift coincidentally preceded bitcoin’s summertime crash last year, when it fell from $63,000 to $30,000.

You can watch Susan Li’s report on Tesla’s disclosure above via Fox Business Network.