Tesla’s Q4 2024 Bitcoin Gains

Elon Musk-led electric vehicle maker Tesla reported a $600 million paper gain from its bitcoin holdings in the fourth quarter of 2024 under an updated accounting rule that permits companies to adjust the value of digital asset holdings at market prices each quarter.

Prior to the Financial Accounting Standards Board rule effective last month, a firm’s crypto holdings decreased on the books if they lost value during the accounting period. Conversely, even if the market value rose, crypto asset holdings could not be revalued until sold, which made a company’s crypto assets appear weaker than their market value.

With the new rule, Tesla’s digital asset holdings increased to $1.076 billion by the end of 2024, up from $184 million the previous quarter.

In the last three months of 2024, bitcoin grew over 50% following the reelection of crypto proponent Donald Trump as U.S. President. Strong inflows in spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds also contributed to this growth. Bitcoin consistently set new all-time high records throughout the quarter, mirroring gains in other cryptocurrencies.

As of writing, bitcoin is trading at $105,020, reflecting a 2.88% increase in the past 24 hours, according to The Block’s bitcoin price page.

Tesla did not disclose its bitcoin holdings in the Q4 report, but data from Arkham Intelligence indicates that the company holds approximately 11,509 BTC, valued at around $1.21 billion. This positions Tesla as the fourth largest publicly traded holder of bitcoin, following MicroStrategy, Marathon Digital, and Galaxy Digital, according to CoinGecko.

With the $600 million gain from digital assets, Tesla reported a GAAP net income of $2.3 billion for Q4 and a total net income of $7.1 billion in 2024. Its adjusted earnings-per-share stood at $0.73, slightly lower than the expected $0.76.

Despite this, Tesla’s stock closed down 2.26% to $389.1 on Wednesday but rebounded with a 4.15% increase during after-hours trading, as reported by Google Finance.