Tesla may have made more money holding Bitcoin than selling cars

It has been 37 days since Tesla announced its $1.5 billion Bitcoin (BTC) purchase in a filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

The exact BTC purchase size was not revealed in the document, but with Bitcoin trading between $29,000 and $37,000 in January, Tesla’s $1.5 billion outlay could mean the company holds at least 40,000 BTC.

Based on these speculative figures and the Bitcoin price increase since the end of January, Tesla’s 40,000 BTC minimum is now worth $2.2 billion. This figure translates to $700 million in unrealized profit.

Thus, Tesla is sitting on close to $19 million in unrealized profit per day over the 37-day period since it announced its Bitcoin purchase.

The electronic vehicle manufacturer earned $31.54 billion in revenue from the sale of 499,550 cars in 2020 to deliver a profit of $721 million. Tesla’s Bitcoin ownership has almost eclipsed this profit margin, especially seeing as the above analysis only considered the company’s likely minimum BTC stash.

Taking car sales across the year as a flat average, Tesla sold approximately 1,368 cars per day at a daily profit of $1.98 million.

As stated earlier, Tesla has made $19 million in unrealized profits per day holding Bitcoin. To achieve this feat in its actual business, the company would have to increase its daily car sales by over 860% with all other factors remaining constant from 2020.

With Bitcoin touted by some to experience a yearlong bull market, with some predictions forecasting a six-digit price valuation for BTC, Tesla’s unrealized gains from holding the asset might outrank its car manufacturing by several orders of magnitude.

The largest crypto by market capitalization is up almost 90% year-to-date and has increased more than tenfold over the last year.