BCGAME - Free 5BTC Daily Bonus!Tesla sold part of its bitcoin stock (BTC, + 2,44%) in the first quarter for $ 272 million to provide liquidity as an alternative to keeping money on the balance sheet.
The sale reduced Tesla's position by 10%, Tesla CFO Zach Kirkhorn said in a earnings conference call on Monday.
In the slide deck accompanying the company's first quarter results on Monday, Tesla mentioned selling some bitcoin:
Year after year, the positive impacts of volume growth, growth in regulatory credit revenue, improvement in gross margin driven by further product cost reductions and Bitcoin sales (positive impact of $ 101 million, net of related deficiencies, in line 'Restructuring and Others') were mainly offset by a lower ASP, increased SBC, additional supply chain costs, investments in R&D and other items. The switching costs of Model S and Model X negatively impacted both gross profit and R&D expenses.
The electric vehicle company Elon Musk bought $1,5 billion worth of bitcoins in February.
According to Kirkhorn, Tesla invested in bitcoin to earn income on its excess cash in a low interest rate environment.
While the company continues to grapple with global supply chain constraints, such as semiconductor shortages or ship port capacity, he said the bitcoin market is a liquid market with an optimistic future.
"There are not many traditional opportunities to do this, or at least we found it ... particularly with yields being so low and without taking additional risks or sacrificing liquidity," said Kirkhorn, despite the perception of bitcoin as a risky asset among financials more traditional analysts.
Telsa will continue to accumulate bitcoin through customer transactions and will make bitcoin-related announcements in the future, added Kirkhorn.
