Gary Zhou 
Tesla’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) decision to invest $1.5 billion of its cash in Bitcoin back in January appears to be the right move. With Bitcoin hitting over $64,118 as of writing, Tesla’s rather controversial investment could very well be up over $1.3 billion. And if the cryptocurrency maintains its momentum, Tesla may end up doubling its Bitcoin investment sooner than expected.
Tesla’s Bitcoin investment has met some skepticism not just from the usual skeptics but from some of the company’s bulls as well. Apart from concerns about the emissions of Bitcoin mining operations, the digital currency tends to be very volatile as well, a point that was highlighted by Tesla itself when it filed its Form 10-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission. “Digital assets may be subject to volatile market prices, which may be unfavorable at the time when we want or need to liquidate them,” Tesla noted.
Tesla did not reveal Bitcoin’s average price when it invested $1.5 billion in the cryptocurrency in January, nor did it disclose exactly how many coins the company acquired. That being said, Bitcoin’s price ranged from $29,333 to $37,020 in January, which suggested that Tesla’s $1.5 billion could have amounted to 37,020 to 51,137 coins, or an average of 44,079.
Even if Tesla only acquired the minimal amount of 37,020 Bitcoin in January, the company’s $1.5 billion investment would still be worth $2.3 billion today, hinting at a healthy profit of $800 million. And this is at the low end. If Tesla were able to purchase the average 44,079 coins in January, then the $1.5 billion it invested in Bitcoin would now be worth $2.8 billion. That’s a profit of over $1.3 billion, far beyond the $721 million that Tesla earned in 2020, its first profitable fiscal year as an EV maker.
Tesla’s ties to cryptocurrency have only been getting stronger as of late. Apart from its $1.5 billion investment in Bitcoin, the EV maker has also started accepting Bitcoin payments for its all-electric cars. Binance, a premier cryptocurrency exchange platform, also launched its zero-commission tradable stock tokens called Binance Stock Tokens (BST), which allow users to purchase fractional shares of specific companies. Binance’s BST launch would only support one company so far, which happens to be Tesla.
Elon Musk has been a pretty notable supporter of cryptocurrencies, with the Tesla CEO noting that he believes Bitcoin is “a good thing.” Musk also said that the cryptocurrency is really “on the verge of getting broad acceptance by conventional finance people.”
