This was equivalent to more than 0.2% of the capped total supply of 21 million bitcoins, according to the pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto’s white paper.
The company also explained in the notes to its 10-K that it expects to begin accepting bitcoin as a form of payment for its products “in the near future”.
Tesla was reported to have made an unrealised profit of $1bn by the time of its announcement, which was less than a month after its original investment.
This, coupled with ongoing increases in the quantitative easing strategies of global central banks in their response to COVID-19, caused the bitcoin price to increase from £32,570 on 26 January 2021 to £57,540 on 21 February 2021.
Fast forward to this week, and Tesla’s latest 10Q statement to the SEC for quarter one 2021 shows that the electric vehicle manufacturer has already sold $293m of their holding to the benefit of their free cash flow – hardly the HODL strategy many bitcoin enthusiasts had hoped for.
Now that the 10Q publication season is upon us, analysts are keenly watching and waiting to see if other companies, the FAANGs in particular, might follow where Tesla has led.
Some experts are predicting $100,000 plus Bitcoin prices.