Tesla's Bitcoin Stash Hits Four-Year Snooze Button, Books $112M Impairment 😴

Tesla held its bitcoin treasury unchanged at 11,509 BTC during the second quarter, extending a nearly four-year streak without buying or selling the cryptocurrency, according to the company's latest earnings release. The electric vehicle maker reported an after-tax impairment loss of $112 million on its digital asset holdings as bitcoin's price declined over the three-month period.

Bitcoin fell 14% during the quarter, dropping from about $83,000 at the start of April to roughly $58,000 by the end of June amid broader macroeconomic uncertainty and volatility across risk assets. The cryptocurrency was recently trading at $65,840.

Tesla remains one of the largest publicly traded corporate holders of bitcoin, though its position is significantly smaller than that of Strategy (MSTR), which has continued to aggressively accumulate the cryptocurrency. Tesla has neither bought nor sold any bitcoin since 2022, after selling roughly 75% of its holdings that year. The company initially purchased $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin in early 2021 and briefly accepted the cryptocurrency as payment for its vehicles before suspending the option over environmental concerns.

Under current accounting rules, companies holding digital assets must recognize declines in the value of their holdings through earnings. While bitcoin has recovered from its late-June lows, the impairment reflects the value of Tesla's holdings during the reporting period.

Tesla's crypto update came alongside mixed second-quarter financial results. The company reported non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.33, missing analyst expectations of $0.55, while revenue came in at $28.2 billion, topping consensus estimates of $27.6 billion. Gross margin stood at 16.8%, GAAP net income totaled $1.11 billion, and the company reported negative free cash flow of $1.1 billion for the quarter.