At the beginning of 2021, Tesla invested about $1.5 billion of its free cash in bitcoin; and even began to accept this cryptocurrency as a means of payment for new electric vehicles, but later abandoned this idea for reputational reasons. Since then, the company’s cryptocurrency assets have depreciated by more than $500 million, although this will not be a disaster for the largest electric vehicle manufacturer.
Earlier this year, Tesla increased the number of bitcoins in its investment portfolio to the equivalent of $2 billion at the exchange rate at the time of purchase. According to independent sources, now all Tesla’s cryptocurrency assets are worth no more than $905 million. That is, according to the most minimal estimates, the company lost almost $600 million on these investments.
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Tesla has lost $600 million on its Bitcoin investment due to the cryptocurrency’s decline
The company holds no more than 10% of free cash in cryptocurrency; and their share in its capitalization does not exceed 0.1%; so the depreciation of bitcoin is unlikely to have a critical impact on the financial position of the automaker. The head of the company, Elon Musk, invests part of his personal funds in cryptocurrencies, but is not going to part with these assets in the foreseeable future, considering this a long-term investment. Tesla intends to resume paying for the purchase of electric vehicles with bitcoins; after the extraction of this cryptocurrency becomes less harmful to the environment.
The cost of the world’s main cryptocurrency has collapsed amid record inflation in the United States. According to the experts, the current Bitcoin rates of about $ 20,000 are not the bottom yet; the cryptocurrency will continue to get cheaper as inflation rises; which will force the US Federal Reserve to raise rates more aggressively. Investors will exit bitcoin, and its price, according to various forecasts; may drop to $8,000-$15,000 by the end of the year.
