Despite a 15% dip in revenue in the first quarter, Tesla has held onto its Bitcoin stash, which, at 9,720 BTC, is worth $645 million.
According to Arkham Intelligence, Elon Musk’s other company, SpaceX, holds 8,290 BTC, worth $550 million, as the X owner continues to place his faith in the top crypto.
Tesla has announced its financial results for the first quarter, revealing a 9% dip in revenue, its biggest in 12 years. However, despite the downturn, Elon Musk is keeping his trust in Bitcoin, and the company didn’t sell any of its BTC in Q1.
The electric vehicle manufacturer, which is the largest in the world, earned $21.30 billion in the first three months of the year, failing to meet analyst expectations of $22.15 billion. This is also a significant dip from the $25.17 billion recorded in the fourth quarter of last year and $23.33 billion from Q1 last year.
The revenue dip reflects rough times for Tesla, as other established automakers eat away at the EV market and it loses its grip on the Asian market. Tesla’s rough year also saw the company lay off 14,000 employees recently, equating to 10% of its global workforce, and Bloomberg reports that this number could double soon.
The company’s stock has also tumbled over the past four months; year-to-date, it has lost over 34%, from $248 to its current $162.40.
Tesla Holds Onto Its Bitcoin
Despite all its woes, Tesla has held firm on its Bitcoin. The company’s stash of 9,720 BTC remained unchanged in the third and fourth quarters of last year, as Crypto News Flash reported. The company’s latest earnings report revealed that it continues to hold this stash, worth $647 million at BTC’s current price.
Tesla first acquired $1.5 billion worth of the top crypto in early 2021, an unprecedented move that gave BTC the much-needed credibility it needed for mainstream appeal. The company said the purchase would give it “more flexibility to diversify further and maximize returns on our cash.”
When it purchased the BTC, the crypto was trading at $38,800, and it rallied to a high of $60,000 just two months later. To capitalize on the price rise, Musk sold off 10% of the BTC for $272 million. The year after, Tesla buckled and sold off most of its BTC. At the end of Q2 that year, the company only held $218 million worth of Bitcoin.
However, since then, Bitcoin has shot up from $21,000 to hit new records past $70,000, giving Tesla a much-needed asset boost.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin trades at $66,485, gaining marginally over the past day despite a slight dip in its trading volume to $23.7 billion.
Commenting on the crypto’s movement in the past 24 hours, FXPro analyst Alex Kuptsikevich stated:
Bitcoin is avoiding sharp swings … remaining inside the previous day’s range. It looks like a very cautious testing of the 50-day moving average (now at $67,300), but just shy of surpassing it for the third day in a row.
