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By James Van Straten, Stephen Alpher|Edited by Nikhilesh De
Updated Jan 29, 2025, 9:46 p.m. UTCPublished Jan 29, 2025, 9:35 p.m. UTC
What to know:
- Tesla’s bitcoin holdings remained steady, but the company marked up the valuation of its stack.
- Tesla is the sixth largest public company to hold bitcoin on the balance sheet, with 9,720 BTC.
- Shares are higher after hours despite an overall earnings miss.
Elon Musk’s Tesla (TSLA) appeared to take advantage of a new accounting rule allowing for holdings of digital assets to be marked-to-market each quarter.
The company’s fourth quarter earnings report shows its 9,720 bitcoin valued at $1.076 billion as of the end of 2024. That’s up from what had been $184 million for several quarters prior. Alongside that change, Tesla also recorded a GAAP income boost of $600 million on its digital holdings. For perspective, the company had overall GAAP income of $2.3 billion in the fourth quarter.
A new rule from the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) requires corporate holders of digital assets to begin marking those assets to market each quarter, no later than the first quarter of 2025. Companies could take advantage of the new rule prior to that at their own discretion, which Tesla has appeared to do.
Prior to this new rule, corporate holders of digital assets were required to report those holdings at what was their lowest valuation during the time of ownership.
Tesla overall reported adjusted EPS of $0.73 in the fourth quarter, missing estimates for $0.76. The gain on its bitcoin holdings was for GAAP purposes and would have had no effect on adjusted EPS. Shares are higher by 3.5% in after hours trading.
Tesla holds 9,720 BTC, according to Bitcoin Treasuries, making it the sixth largest publicly traded company to hold bitcoin on its balance sheet.
James Van Straten is a Senior Analyst at CoinDesk, specializing in Bitcoin and its interplay with the macroeconomic environment. Previously, James worked as a Research Analyst at Saidler & Co., a Swiss hedge fund, where he developed expertise in on-chain analytics. His work focuses on monitoring flows to analyze Bitcoin’s role within the broader financial system.
In addition to his professional endeavors, James serves as an advisor to Coinsilium, a UK publicly traded company, where he provides guidance on their Bitcoin treasury strategy. He also holds investments in Bitcoin, MicroStrategy (MSTR), and Semler Scientific (SMLR).
Stephen is CoinDesk’s managing editor for Markets. He previously served as managing editor at Seeking Alpha. A native of suburban Washington, D.C., Stephen went to the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, majoring in finance. He holds BTC above CoinDesk’s disclosure threshold of $1,000.
