Elon Musk's $1.5 billion Bitcoin bet at Tesla turned out to be a bad deal. He sunk the funds into Bitcoin in January 2021, when Bitcoin was trading between $30,000 and $40,000. Simultaneously, he announced that Tesla would begin accepting Bitcoin — an announcement that was quickly reversed when someone apparently pointed out to Musk that Bitcoin is an environmental nightmare.Tesla sold most of its Bitcoin in Q2 2022, following the grand crypto tradition of buying high and selling low.
Now, according to SEC filings, Tesla suffered a net loss of $140 million in 2022 thanks to the gamble. Their reported $64 million in trading profits were eclipsed by their $204 million loss. Tesla still holds somewhere around 11,000 BTC.
