Tesla Says Will Continue To 'Accumulate' Bitcoin, Believes In Long-Term Value Of The Crypto - Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Tesla Inc. (TSLA) said it will continue to accumulate Bitcoin (BTC) arising from purchases made by its customers and believes in the long-term value of the cryptocurrency.

What Happened: Tesla Master of Coin and CFO Zachary Kirkhorn said during the electric vehicle maker’s first-quarter earnings call on Monday that Bitcoin has proved to be a good decision and Tesla intends to hold Bitcoin long-term.

Kirkhorn noted that from a corporate treasury perspective, Tesla has been quite pleased with the liquidity in the Bitcoin market. He also said Bitcoin has been a good place to store cash that was not immediately being used for daily operations while getting some level of return at the same time.

“Particularly as we look forward to the launch of Austin and Berlin, and uncertainty that’s happening with semiconductors and port capacity, being able to access that cash very quickly is super important to us right now,” the CFO added.

"It is our intent to hold what we have long term and continue to accumulate bitcoin from transactions from our customers as they purchase vehicles," Kirkhorn noted.

Why It Matters: Tesla said in its first-quarter earnings report on Monday that it sold $272 million worth of its Bitcoin holdings and the sale made a “positive impact” of $101 million to its profitability during the quarter.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is a big supporter of Bitcoin as well as Dogecoin (DTC) and frequently tweets about cryptocurrencies, especially the latter.

In February, Tesla announced it invested an aggregate of $1.5 billion of cash in Bitcoin to further diversify and maximize returns on its cash. The Palo Alto-based company said last month that it has begun accepting payments for its vehicles with Bitcoin.

Bitcoin, launched in 2009, is the world’s biggest digital currency and is growing in adoption. The apex cryptocurrency touched a never-before-seen level of $64,863.10 on April 14. Bitcoin is up 3.2% in the last 24 hours at $54,658.12 at press time.

A growing number of financial firms and companies, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. GS and JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM, are embracing cryptocurrencies. Companies such as Jack Dorsey-led Square Inc. SQ and MicroStrategy Incorporated MSTR have also invested in Bitcoin.

Price Action: Tesla shares closed 1.2% higher on Monday at $738.20.

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