Tesla Sold 75% of Its Bitcoin Holdings at Low Point, Missed Out on Billions

Tesla sold the majority of its Bitcoin holdings in 2022, which was a move that now appears to have cost the electric vehicle company billions of dollars in unrealized gains. A new CNBC report published July 24, 2025 confirms that Tesla offloaded 75 percent of its crypto at a time when the market was near its lowest levels, well before Bitcoin’s record rally in 2023 and 2024.

Tesla’s initial Bitcoin purchase, announced in early 2021, totalled $1.5 billion. At the time, the company said that it viewed crypto as a form of liquidity and a long-term store of value. The move triggered a wave of corporate crypto interest and helped push Bitcoin’s price to then all-time highs. But just a year and a half later, Tesla began reversing its position.

Offloading in a Bear Market

According to the 2025 regulatory filing, Tesla sold roughly $936 million worth of Bitcoin in Q2 2022, when prices were significantly down following multiple crypto industry collapses. At the time, Bitcoin was trading at under $20,000, less than half its peak value of over $60,000 just a year prior.

The company cited “liquidity concerns” due to COVID-related production shutdowns in China as a key reason for the liquidation. During the Q2 2022 earnings call, CEO Elon Musk said that they didn’t sell Bitcoin because they didn’t believe in it, but because they wanted to have more cash on hand.

Even though Tesla retained some of its Bitcoin after the sale, the remaining position was minimal. According to the report, the company has not added back to its holdings since the 2022 sale along with Tesla’s stock’s sliding after Q2 miss.

Missed Opportunity Amid Massive Rally

Had Tesla held its full Bitcoin investment through the 2023 and 2024 bull runs, the value of its crypto reserves would have soared. Bitcoin surpassed $90,000 in 2024, more than doubling from the level at which Tesla sold the majority of its holdings. Analysts estimate that the company could have realized gains of over $1.5 billion had it maintained its position.

The company’s crypto strategy is now under renewed scrutiny, especially given Elon Musk’s previous public enthusiasm for digital assets. Tesla once accepted Bitcoin as payment for vehicles and was a major catalyst in the retail crypto boom of early 2021.

However, concerns around Bitcoin’s environmental impact, combined with market volatility and liquidity needs, led the company to backtrack. It has since focused on other priorities, and that included expansion of its energy storage business and AI initiatives.

Bitcoin Community Reacts

The news has sparked fresh debate within the cryptocurrency world. Industry advocates argue that Tesla’s decision reflects poor market timing rather than flaws with the asset itself.

“Tesla paper-handed one of the biggest institutional entries in crypto history,” said crypto investor and entrepreneur Anthony Pompliano in a Twitter post. “They sold at the bottom and missed the entire rally. Just imagine what their balance sheet would look like now.”

Others were more forgiving and noted that the timing coincided with high macroeconomic uncertainty and that Tesla had to protect its core business.

Tesla’s Broader Financial Position

Despite the lost gains, Tesla remains on a solid financial footing. The company posted record vehicle deliveries in 2024 and continued to grow its gross margins in Q1 and Q2 of 2025. It has also expanded its gigafactories in Mexico and India, with the latter already operational since March.

Still, the missed opportunity with Bitcoin adds to a series of financial pivots that have puzzled analysts. Tesla’s decision to drop most of its Bitcoin holdings came just months before other firms, including BlackRock and Fidelity, began preparing spot Bitcoin ETF filings, setting the stage for wider institutional adoption.

What’s Next for Tesla and Crypto

Tesla has not commented on any renewed plans to re-enter the crypto market. In recent public appearances, Elon Musk has focused on Tesla’s progress in AI and full self-driving technology rather than financial asset strategies.

The company’s remaining crypto holdings are now considered negligible compared to its overall balance sheet, which includes tens of billions in cash and cash equivalents.

However, with Bitcoin now trading consistently above $100,000, some investors are speculating whether Tesla might revisit digital assets in the future, especially as other major institutions like JPMorgan and BlackRock expand their blockchain divisions.

For now, Tesla’s 2022 crypto exit stands as one of the most significant missed investment opportunities by a major corporation in the current financial cycle.