Tesla books huge profit from Bitcoin sale in Q1

In February, the electric vehicle maker announced it had purchased $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin.

Tesla Motors sold a portion of its Bitcoin (BTC) holdings in the first quarter of 2021, generating net proceeds of $272 million, the electric vehicle maker reported Monday.

In a 30-page slide deck accompanying its quarterly financial results, Tesla noted a $101 million “positive impact” as a result of its Bitcoin sale:

“Year over year, positive impacts from volume growth, regulatory credit revenue growth, gross margin improvement driven by further product cost reductions and sale of Bitcoin ($101M positive impact, net of related impairments, in Restructuring & Other line), were mainly offset by a lower ASP, increased SBC, additional supply chain costs, R&D investments and other items. Model S and Model X changeover costs negatively impacted both gross profit as well as R&D expenses.”

In its quarterly cash flow statement, the company said “proceeds from sales of digital assets” were valued at $272 million.

The electric vehicle maker made headlines in February after revealing a strategic acquisition of $1.5 billion worth of BTC. At the time, that amounted to 7.7% of Tesla’s gross cash position. The company also announced that it will accept Bitcoin as payment for its cars without necessarily converting it into fiat currency. 

Beyond its cryptocurrency activity, Tesla posted net income of $438 million during the quarter, marking a new all-time high. Per-share earnings were 93 cents on revenue of $10.39 billion. The Elon Musk-led firm also said that it expects vehicle delivery growth to exceed 50% this year, which implies minimum deliveries of roughly 750,000 vehicles for 2021.