 Tesla reports $600M Bitcoin gain in Q4 using new accounting rule 
2025-01-30
Category: None

Tesla reported a $600 million gain from its Bitcoin holdings in the fourth quarter of 2024 thanks to new accounting rules that allow companies to record the market value of the crypto on their books.
Tesla’s Q4 2024 results released on Jan. 29 show the company valued its Bitcoin BTCUSD stash at just over $1 billion, up from the $184 million it logged throughout previous quarters.
It marked a net gain of $589 million on its BTC holdings over the quarter, which has reached 9,720 BTC, according to Bitcoin Treasuries.
Under a 2023 Financial Accounting Standards Board rule that came into effect in mid-December, corporate holders of crypto can now use the estimated market value of the digital assets in their balance sheets. The FASB sets accounting and reporting standards for the US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). 
Previously, the value of corporate firms’ crypto holdings decreased on the books if they lost value in an accounting period, which could make a company’s assets appear to be worth less than their market value.
Without the rule change, the recorded value could not increase until the assets were sold, even if the value of the holdings went up.
Overall, Tesla reported a GAAP income of $2.3 billion in the fourth quarter, boosted by the $600 million from its Bitcoin holdings.
Tesla saw its fourth-quarter earnings and profit miss Wall Street estimates, with reported total revenues of $25.71 billion, a 2% year-on-year increase but slightly below analysts’ estimates of $27.22 billion.
The electric car maker also missed projected profits, reporting an earnings per share of $0.73 compared to analysts’ $0.76 EPS estimate.
Total third-quarter operating expenses came in at $2.59 billion, marking more than a 9% increase from last quarter.
Tesla (TSLA) closed down 2.26% on Jan. 29 but saw a 4.44% rally after hours to $406.36, according to Google Finance.
In the last 12 months, Tesla’s share price is up 103.79%, having hit an all-time high of $479 on Dec. 17.
Tesla first bought crypto in February 2021 and built up a stash of 42,902 Bitcoin until it sold 75% of its holdings in July 2022, with the sale of more than 30,000 Bitcoin fetching $936 million.
Other companies — including healthcare tech and software firm Semler Scientific, artificial intelligence developer Genius Group and YouTube alternative Rumble — have also bought Bitcoin, a treasury strategy popularized by MicroStrategy.
MicroStrategy holds 471,000 Bitcoin worth $48 billion, according to Saylor Tracker, more than any other public firm.