According to its third quarterly report filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, Tesla may resume accepting cryptocurrency payments.
It stated that during the nine months that ended Sept. 30, the company purchased an aggregate of $1.5 billion in BTC. Until the end of March, it accepted Bitcoin as a means of payment for sales of certain products in specified regions, but suspended this practice in May 2021.
“We may in the future restart the practice of transacting in cryptocurrencies (“digital assets”) for our products and services.”
The file said the “fair market value” of Tesla’s digital assets as of September 30 was $ 1.83 billion. The company added:
“We believe in the long-term potential of digital assets both as an investment and also as a liquid alternative to cash.”
Tesla made $ 1.3 billion with BTC
In its third quarter financial report, Tesla said it had to take an impairment charge of $ 51 million to account for its existing BTC holdings.
Digital asset accounting rules state that if the price of an asset falls during the period, the company must report it as an impairment. However, if the price increases, it is not recorded as a gain on the balance sheet. Bitcoin prices ranged from $30K to $52.7K during the quarter but ended at $41.5K.
Following Tesla’s big move into Bitcoin earlier this year, the company sold 10% of its holdings in the second quarter, which increased profits for that quarter by $ 272 million.
According to Bitcointreasuries, Tesla currently holds around 43,200 BTC worth an estimated $2.7 billion at current prices. Even after selling 10% of its reserve, the company made nearly $ 1.3 billion in unrealized profits from this investment.
Tesla is the second-largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, according to the website, behind MicroStrategy, which holds around 114K BTC worth an estimated $7.4 billion at current prices. The Square payments company is third on the list with around 8,000 bitcoins.
Greener Bitcoin Accepted
In July, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the firm would reaccept it as soon as Bitcoin mining operations are using more than 50% renewable energy.
“But as long as there is a long-term trend towards community use of renewable energy, Tesla can support that.”
The trend is already occurring since the exodus from China which used a lot of coal-based power for mining. Most of Bitcoin’s recently relocated mining operations to the United States use renewable energy.
