Electric vehicle giant Tesla made headlines in early 2021 when it invested $1.5 billion in Bitcoin, becoming one of the first major corporations to add the digital asset to its balance sheet.
The purchase, completed on February 1, 2021, signalled a strong institutional endorsement of Bitcoin and helped fuel a surge in the cryptocurrency’s market price.
Tesla’s early bet on Bitcoin
According to blockchain intelligence firm Arkham Intelligence, Tesla accumulated 43,770 BTC at an average price of about $34,270 per coin. The investment quickly paid off as Bitcoin rallied in the weeks following the announcement, pushing the value of Tesla’s holdings close to double their initial purchase price.
— Arkham (@arkham) March 6, 2026
On-chain analysts were able to track Tesla’s Bitcoin transactions by studying wallet clusters and comparing them with the company’s official disclosures. By examining transaction patterns and movements between wallets associated with Coinbase and its institutional service Coinbase Prime, researchers reconstructed Tesla’s Bitcoin activity and verified several major transfers.
Sales during market turmoil
Tesla began trimming its position only months after the initial purchase. In March and April 2021, the company sold 4,670 BTC for around $260.2 million. The sales generated roughly $100 million in profit.
The company held nearly 40,000 BTC through much of the 2021 bull market. At the market peak in November 2021, Tesla’s Bitcoin holdings were worth roughly $1.5 billion more than the original purchase cost.
A larger sell-off came in May 2022 during the collapse of the Terra (LUNA) ecosystem. Blockchain data shows Tesla transferred about 30,690 BTC to Coinbase, likely selling a significant portion amid the broader crypto market downturn.
Following those transactions, Tesla retained only a fraction of its initial holdings. After several adjustments in June 2022, its Bitcoin treasury stabilized at around 11,509 BTC. Tesla also sold 75% of its Bitcoin holdings in July 2022. The value of Bitcoin at the time of sale was pegged at $936 million, according to its Q2 earnings report.
In October 2024, Tesla transferred nearly all of the $760 million in cryptocurrency it owns to unknown wallets, raising the possibility that the carmaker is selling. Despite major market shocks such as the collapse of FTX later that year, Tesla has not reported further Bitcoin sales and remains one of the largest publicly known corporate holders of the cryptocurrency.
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