Tesla Has Not Bought or Sold Crypto Since Q1 2021

Tesla exceeded revenue expectations in its latest earnings report, no thanks to its crypto holdings

article-image

Source: Shutterstock

share

key takeaways

  • Tesla has not traded any cryptocurrency in a year, its latest earnings report shows
  • The company currently holds $1.26 billion in digital assets

Since making its $1.5 billion bitcoin investment in the first quarter of 2021, Tesla has refrained from making any additional digital asset trades.

The electric car company reported $1.26 billion in holdings of digital assets in its first quarter earnings report Wednesday, almost unchanged from its holdings at the end of the fourth quarter in 2021.

Tesla has not bought or sold any crypto assets since the first quarter of 2021, the statements reveal. Any changes in the company’s digital assets holdings value since then have come from price fluctuations. In the third quarter of 2021, Tesla reported a $51 million loss as a “bitcoin related impairment,” a required disclosure to reflect a dip in the largest cryptocurrency’s price. 

Tesla reported $18.76 billion in revenue during the first quarter of 2022, exceeding an expected $17.80 billion. Revenue from automobiles accounted for $16.86 billion, an 87% increase from the same quarter last year. 

The earnings report comes as Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s love-hate relationship with cryptocurrencies continues to play out on the public stage.

In March 2021, a month after Tesla’s bitcoin purchase, Musk announced via Twitter that the company would be accepting bitcoin as payment. Less than two months later, also in a tweet, Musk reneged on his previous statement, revealing that Tesla would not be accepting bitcoin due to the cryptocurrency’s environmental impact.

In July, Musk clarified that if bitcoin mining moved in a sustainable direction, he would reconsider adding it as a payment method. In October, the company confirmed it was leaving the door open to crypto payments in an SEC filing.

In January 2022, Musk revealed his interest in a different cryptocurrency — the so-called meme coin DogeCoin. Tesla now accepts payments in DogeCoin on its online shop for select items.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Research Report Templates.png

Research

The convergence of DePIN and energy generation aims to address modern grid challenges by incentivizing distributed generation.

article-image

US states are now competing for Bitcoin bragging rights

article-image

The deal is likely to fuel further M&A around derivatives trading and infrastructure, Architect Partners’ Michael Klena says

article-image

Stripe announced Stablecoin Financial Accounts, which will allow businesses to have “stablecoin-powered accounts”

article-image

The deal is made up of $700 million in cash and 11 million shares of Coinbase’s Class A common stock

article-image

Blockworks Research uses numbers to help crypto advance to a higher stage of storytelling