Bitcoin Is Down, but Tesla Is a Real Downer
Companies holding bitcoin in their treasuries have been hit hard in 2022
Nadezda Murmakova/Shutterstock.com
Shares of Tesla (TSLA) were down a whopping 56% in the past 90 days alone through Tuesday’s market close — capped off by a daily drop of 8%.
The one-time Wall Street darling’s decline has outpaced dropping, and highly volatile, equity and spot cryptocurrencies markets this year. It’s now in a 66% hole from its all-time (split-adjusted) high of $414.50, set on Nov. 4, 2021.
The epic fall of the electric carmaker mirrors that of bitcoin in 2022, up about 2.6% on the day as of 5 pm ET— but down 65% year to date.
Bitcoin’s volatility of late has been remarkably muted, according to research firm BitOoda, which said in a Tuesday report that “a prolonged period below 200-day [exponential moving average] has built price stability to the downside, and BTC seems to have support at [$]16,000.”
Tesla is the third-largest publicly traded company to hold BTC on its balance sheet, behind MicroStrategy (MSTR) and crypto miner Marathon Digital (MARA), and just ahead of Hut 8 Mining (HUT), according to BitcoinTreasuries.
The performance of all four companies now lags that of the underlying spot bitcoin for the year for the first time since May.
Just a week ago, markets were reacting positively to cooling inflation numbers in the US and a more measured interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve. But Tesla did not participate in the short-lived rally, as the market weighed the impact of CEO Elon Musk’s Twitter quagmire.
Last week, Musk sold $3.5 billion of his own stock, according to regulatory disclosures, further depressing sentiment. The stock has now neatly filled a two-year-old gap open from Nov. 17, 2020.
Tesla sold 75% of its bitcoin stash in the second quarter of 2022 but held the rest through the third quarter. The company is now down 52%, or about $174 million, on its crypto treasury bet. Its fourth quarter SEC disclosure is slated for late January 2023.
Other crypto-linked public companies have fared poorly, as well. And that may be putting matters mildly.
Shares of Coinbase (COIN) ended Tuesday on yet another all-time closing low at $34.97 — continuing their slide from last week. The stock is now 90% off its post-IPO high at the peak of the crypto bull market.
Also down 90% from its highpoint is Musk’s crypto darling dogecoin (DOGE). It’s been more than two months since the billionaire last paid homage to the meme coin on Twitter.
Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter.
Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. Subscribe to the On the Margin newsletter.
The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. Subscribe to daily Solana news from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.
