Tesla sold some of its bitcoin (BTC, +2.39%) stash in the quarter that is first $272 million in profits.
The purchase trimmed position that is tesla’s 10%, Tesla CFO Zach Kirkhorn stated on an earnings call Monday.
Into the slide deck accompanying the company’s first-quarter earnings results Monday, Tesla talked about the sale of some bitcoin:
“12 months over 12 months, good effects from volume development, regulatory credit income growth, gross margin enhancement driven by further product cost reductions and sale of Bitcoin ($101M positive effect, net of related impairments, in ‘Restructuring & Other’ line) were primarily offset by a reduced ASP, increased SBC, additional supply string costs, R&D investments along with other things. Model S and Model X changeover expenses adversely impacted both profit that is gross well as R&D expenses.”
Elon Musk’s vehicle that is electric purchased $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin in February.
Kirkhorn said on the call that Tesla spent in bitcoin to earn yield on its excess money in a environment that is low-interest-rate.
Although the company continues to cope with worldwide supply chain crunches like semiconductor shortages or ship port capacity, he said the bitcoin marketplace is a liquid market with an future that is optimistic.
“There aren’t numerous conventional possibilities to repeat this, or at the least that we found … particularly with yields being therefore low and without taking on risk that is additional sacrificing liquidity,” Kirkhorn said, despite bitcoin’s perception as being a danger asset among many old-fashioned economic analysts.
Telsa continues to accumulate bitcoin through customer deals and will make announcements that are bitcoin-related the future, Kirkhorn added.