Tesla Recorded $64M Gain on Bitcoin Sales in Q2

Tesla (TSLA) posted a gain of $64 million on the sale of 75% of its bitcoin (BTC) holdings that netted it $936 million in the second quarter, as well as an impairment of $170 million on its remaining holdings, according to its 10-Q filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday.

The filing elaborated on information and statements provided in Tesla’s quarterly earnings release and call on Wednesday.

On the earnings call, Tesla Chief Financial Officer Zach Kirkhorn said the company “converted a majority of our bitcoin holdings to fiat for a realized gain, offset by impairment charges on the remainder of our holdings, netting a $106 million cost to the [Profit and Loss Statement] included within restructuring and other.”

In its 10-Q on Monday, Tesla said it recorded the $170 million impairment charge and $64 million gain in the six-month period through June 30. Because it didn’t add to or reduce any of its holdings in the first quarter, nor did it record an impairment charge then, all those results must have occurred in the second quarter.

Tesla first acquired $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin in the first quarter of 2021 but did not disclose its average purchase price. Later in that first quarter the company trimmed its bitcoin position by 10%, a sale that boosted that quarter’s earnings by $272 million. It hadn't added to or reduced its holdings until the most recent quarter, a move CEO Elon Musk said was taken to raise cash in the face of COVID-19 lockdowns in China, one of its largest markets.

The company did not reveal the selling price for its bitcoin in the second quarter but a rough calculation shows the average price would be of around $29,000 per bitcoin, helping Tesla avoid a much more substantial impairment charge. Bitcoin ended the second quarter at a price of about $18,700.

Read more: What Tesla’s Big Bitcoin Sale Means for Other Firms Putting Crypto on Their Balance Sheets