Elon Musk’s Tesla has taken advantage of a new accounting rule that lets companies adjust the value of their digital asset holdings at market prices each quarter and reported a $600M paper gain in the fourth quarter of the year. The company’s BTC holdings remained steady, maintaining its position as the sixth-largest public company to hold the asset on its balance sheet, with 9,720 BTC. Tesla’s Q4 Numbers Tesla’s fourth-quarter earnings report showed its 9,720 BTC valued at $1.07 billion at the end of 2024, up from $184 million during previous quarters. Tesla also registered a GAAP income boost of $600 million on its digital holdings. The paper gain was due to an updated accounting rule that allows companies to adjust the value of their digital asset holdings at market prices for each quarter. Before the updated rule that came into force last month, companies had to report their digital asset holdings at their lowest valuation at the time of ownership. Even if the asset's value rose, it could not be revalued until sold, making the company’s digital asset holdings appear weaker than their market value. BTC’s Incredible Growth BTC has surged over 50% since November 2024 thanks to Donald Trump’s election victory and inauguration earlier this month and strong inflows into spot Bitcoin ETFs. BTC saw new all-time highs during Q4 after shattering the $100,000 level. The flagship cryptocurrency’s latest all-time high came as recently as January 20. BTC’s surge also saw other altcoins register significant growth. BTC is trading around $105,300, up nearly 3% over the past 24 hours. Data from Bitcoin Treasuries suggests Tesla holds 9,720 BTC. However, Arkham Intelligence data shows the company holds around 11,500 BTC valued at $1.21 billion, making it the fourth-largest publicly traded BTC holder behind MicroStrategy, Marathon Digital, and Galaxy Digital. Thanks to the gain from digital assets, Tesla reported a GAAP net income of $2.3 billion in Q4 and a total of $7.1 billion net income in 2024. The company’s adjusted earnings-per-share were reported to be $0.73, lower than the expected $0.76. Tesla had moved a significant chunk of BTC to undisclosed addresses in October 2024, prompting speculation that a sale was on the cards. The BTC was moved to wallets not associated with known crypto exchanges. The company has held BTC since 2020, when it disclosed the acquisition of $1.5 billion worth of the asset, making it one of the largest corporate investments in BTC at the time. Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
