Tesla secures $600m Q4 gain under new accounting rules

Tesla has reported a $600 million boost in its latest quarterly results, thanks to a recent change in accounting rules for digital assets. 

The update is a reflection of the changing picture within crypto accounting and how it will directly impact corporate financial statements. 

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has updated its guidelines, meaning companies can now file digital currency assets such as Bitcoin at their fair market value. 

Elon Musk’s multinational automotive firm reported its fourth-quarter adjusted earnings at $0.73, narrowly missing average estimates from analysts at 75 cents. Meanwhile, investors were encouraged by upcoming events for Tesla, including the rollout of robotaxi operations and positive sales forecasts for 2025.

Huge news for MicroStrategy

With new FASB rules, Tesla marked up its BTC holdings, booking a $600M gain—pushing shares up 4.2% after hours and adding nearly $50B in market cap.

Just think what happens when MSTR, with 45x more BTC, follows suit with FASB. pic.twitter.com/jkS3SJfTBs

— Bitcoin News (@BitcoinNewsCom) January 30, 2025

Tesla did not disclose its Bitcoin holding in the Q4 report, but Arkham Intelligence data has intimated the autonomous vehicle manufacturer has a stockpile of around 11,509 BTC. 

This gives an estimated valuation of $1.21 billion.

If accurate, the information above would make Musk’s firm the fourth largest publicly traded holder of the alternate digital currency, behind only MicroStrategy, Marathon Digital, and Galaxy Digital. 

The $600m paper increase contributed to Tesla reporting a GAAP net income of $2.3 billion for Q4, and a total $1.7b income for 2024. 

Tesla’s stock price fell 2.2% to $389.1 on Wednesday (Jan. 30), but bounced up 4.15% in after-hours trading.

As for Bitcoin, it is more prominence and publicity at the top level. 

The digital asset spiked by more than 50% in the last quarter of 2024, thanks to Donald Trump’s overtures and pledges to the crypto sector on the campaign trail to secure a return to the White House. 

Fast-forward a few months and the incumbent President has already signed more than 100 executive orders on his inauguration day, followed by more, including a directive to investigate the merits of stockpiling Bitcoin.

At the time of writing on Thursday (Jan. 30), Bitcoin is up for grabs at the price of $105,955,00. 

Image credit: Via Grok/X.

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