Tesla

Tesla’s humanoid robot is now 30% faster, 22 pounds lighter

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has revealed a new prototype of its humanoid robot, Optimus Gen 2. It can dance and do squats.

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and executive chair of X (formerly Twitter), has revealed a new prototype of Tesla’s humanoid robot, Optimus, which is lighter and faster than previous versions. Musk shared a video presentation of Optimus Gen 2 via his X account on Dec. 13.

Musk has repeatedly called for more regulatory oversight of artificial intelligence (AI), believing it may be “smarter than all humans at everything” in the future.

In December, the entrepreneur claimed that a “digital god” would make the copyright lawsuits regarding AI irrelevant. Musk previously predicted that artificial general intelligence would arrive before 2030, an estimate many industry experts disputed as overly optimistic.

Tesla selling Bitcoin last year turned out to be a $500M mistake

Tesla’s remaining Bitcoin stash has grown 100% from its November 2022 lows, demonstrating that hodling BTC can indeed pay off.

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) has grown by more than 50% since Tesla unveiled its approximately $1-billion BTC sales in July 2022. In other words, the Elon Musk-owned electric carmaker would have made an additional $500 million if it had waited until today to sell.

Are Tesla’s Bitcoin trades profitable?

Tesla infamously dumped nearly $936 million of its total Bitcoin holdings in Q2 2022, accounting for 75% of its remaining reserves, to secure $64 million in profit. At the time, Bitcoin was trading about 70% lower than its record high of $69,000 in November 2021.

*BTC/USD monthly price chart featuring Tesla’s Bitcoin sales purchases and sales. Source: TradingView*

Originally, Tesla purchased $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin in February 2021 at an average price of $36,000. The company then sold BTC worth $272 million to boost its Q1 2021 accounting by $101 million.

The company has nevertheless held on to its remaining BTC as of Q4 2022 despite the price of Bitcoin sitting at bear-market lows of around $16,000 at the time. Today, Tesla holds 10,725 BTC worth around $330 million, almost 15% below the procurement value from February 2021.

Overall, Tesla made roughly $165 million in profit from two separate Bitcoin sales. As of April 14, it sits atop an unrealized loss of around $56.6 million on its remaining BTC holdings, while its net profit to date sits at around $108 million.

Will Tesla dump its remaining BTC holdings?

Interestingly, Tesla’s previous Bitcoin sales came from weaker free cash flows. For instance, the Q1 2021’s BTC sale worth $272 million made up nearly 93% of Tesla’s free cash flows in the same quarter.

*Tesla free cash flows performance by quarter. Source: Statista*

Similarly, Tesla’s Bitcoin sales in Q2 2022 came as its free cash flows declined 73% versus the previous quarter. Both sales suggest that Musk relied on Bitcoin as a haven during Tesla’s cash crunch phases.

The Tesla CEO explained at the time that the sale was made to “prove liquidity of Bitcoin as an alternative to holding cash on a balance sheet.”

Meanwhile, Wall Street analysts estimate that Tesla’s free cash flow in Q1 2023 could be nearly $2 billion, up 40% versus the previous quarter. This should reduce the chances of Tesla dumping any significant Bitcoin amount in the near term.

Magazine: Bitcoin in Senegal: Why is this African country using BTC?

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

MicroStrategy Bitcoin bet turns green as BTC price climbs to 10-month high

Michael Saylor, the co-founder of the Fortune 500 company, had maintained throughout the bear market that they would continue to invest in Bitcoin as they are confident in its fundamentals.

Business intelligence and Fortune 500 company MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin (BTC) investment has turned green again as BTC broke past the critical resistance of around $29,000 to record a new 10-month high of $30,163.

MicroStrategy started investing in Bitcoin in the second quarter of 2020 when the BTC price was trading around $10,000. Since then, the business intelligence firm had made a series of BTC purchases over the period of two years. The firm has accumulated a total of 140,000 Bitcoin, acquired for nearly $4.17 billion at an average price of $29,803 per BTC.

MicroStrategy co-founder Michael Saylor introduced the Bitcoin strategy as a treasury hedging asset over the United States dollars. Apart from holding BTC personally and on the company’s balance sheet, Saylor also convinced several public companies to accumulate BTC on their balance sheets, including the likes of Tesla, SpaceX and a dozen others.

The Bitcoin bet made by the Fortune 500 company looked lucrative throughout the bull market in 2021. However, a prolonged crypto winter in 2022 fueled by multiple crypto contagions brought upon by the collapse of leading crypto unicorns, crashed BTC price by over 70%. The same Bitcoin bet that looked lucrative in 2021 attracted a lot of flak from crypto critics as MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin investment was at a 50% loss at the peak bear market in 2022.

However, Saylor always maintained that MicroStrategy had full confidence in Bitcoin’s underlying fundamentals and would continue to invest in the top cryptocurrency. In an interview with Cointelegraph, Saylor said that a Bitcoin investment should be judged from a four-year price cycle rather than based on one bear or bull market.

After a disastrous 2022, BTC price has shown strength throughout 2023, with the price seeing over a 55% increase in the first quarter of this year. Bitcoin price has closed above the previous month’s high three months in a row, a sign considered to be a bullish market indicator and an indication of another bull run on the horizon.

*Bitcoin price history. Source: Bitcoin Archives*

Bitcoin has outperformed most traditional stocks and bonds this year and has eclipsed the losses incurred from the crypto contagions caused by FTX and Terra-Luna saga.

Magazine: Crypto winter can take a toll on hodlers’ mental health

Happy Bitcoin anniversary, Tesla — Elon Musk firm still hodls 9.7K BTC

Bitcoin exposure may be down 77.5%, but Tesla still has the third-largest BTC holdings of a publicly listed company.

Bitcoin (BTC) held by Tesla is still worth 33% less than its 2021 purchase price, the latest data shows.

Two years to the day that Elon Musk’s firm added BTC to its balance sheet, most gains continue to evade the auto manufacturer.

Tesla and Bitcoin: From $1.5 billion to $225 million

Bitcoin and Tesla have proven an explosive combination since Musk announced that it would buy $1.5 billion in BTC.

The move in February 2021 came as BTC/USD was on its way to its first all-time high of the year, which it reached in April, topping out at $58,000.

Tesla’s purchase price was around $34,700 at the time, according to data from the tracking website Bitcoin Treasuries.

After selling 10% of its holdings in March of that year, Tesla became a heavyweight hodler until a surprise move announced in July 2022 saw it divest 75% of its remaining coins.

That was done at a loss, as at the time, BTC/USD traded near $23,000. The sale occurred during Q2 2022 at around $29,000 per coin.

Taking the hit appeared more appealing to Musk, who claimed that the rationale behind the sale was not a direct commentary on Bitcoin as an investment.

Since then, Tesla has hodled 9,720 BTC, with subsequent price action still denying the company any investment gains. According to Bitcoin Treasuries, Tesla is still 33% down on its remaining stash as of February 2023, worth $225 million.

*Tesla BTC holdings vs. USD value vs. BTC/USD vs. TSLA chart (screenshot). Source: Bitcoin Treasuries*

TSLA and BTC rise in tandem

Previously, Cointelegraph reported on the relationship between the Bitcoin spot price and Tesla stock, both seeing a broad resurgence at the start of 2023.

As of the Bitcoin purchase anniversary, TSLA is up 66% year-to-date, outpacing Bitcoin’s gains of just under 40%, data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView confirms.

*BTC/USD vs. TSLA line chart. Source: TradingView*

The rebound has failed to capture the imagination of mainstream media, however, which this month opted to highlight Tesla’s 2022 BTC net losses, which in U.S. dollar terms amounted to $140 million.

Meanwhile, Musk has become arguably better known within the context of other cryptocurrencies, notably Dogecoin (DOGE), which he has given considerable publicity on social media and elsewhere since 2021.

Recently, he revealed that payments would be coming to Twitter, which he purchased last year, and that these could, at some point include cryptocurrency.

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the authors’ alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Tesla records $140M Bitcoin net loss in 2022

The electric vehicle maker earned $64 million in profits from Bitcoin trading, which was offset by a $204-million impairment.

According to a filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on Jan. 31, electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla disclosed that it had recorded a $204-million gross impairment loss during 2022 on its Bitcoin (BTC) holdings. Simultaneously, Tesla recorded a gain of $64 million from converting BTC into fiat currency at various points during the year, resulting in a net loss of $140 million from its cryptocurrency trading activities.

The filing further explained the impact of volatile crypto prices on Tesla’s bottom line:

“Digital assets are considered indefinite-lived intangible assets under applicable accounting rules. Accordingly, any decrease in their fair values below our carrying values for such assets at any time subsequent to their acquisition will require us to recognize impairment charges, whereas we may make no upward revisions for any market price increases until a sale. For any digital assets held now or in the future, these charges may negatively impact our profitability in the periods in which such impairments occur even if the overall market values of these assets increase.”

In the first quarter of 2021, Tesla invested $1.5 billion in Bitcoin. At the time, its founder, Elon Musk, announced that the electric vehicle manufacturer would start accepting BTC payments from U.S.-based consumers.

The policy was retracted just months later, as Musk cited the need for “confirmation of reasonable (~50%) clean energy usage by [Bitcoin] miners with positive future trend” before the company would accept the means of payment again. Tesla reportedly sold 75% of its BTC holdings in the second quarter of 2022.

Elon Musk’s Tesla held onto its Bitcoin in Q4 despite market turbulence

The EV maker continued to hold its estimated 9,720 Bitcoin, only losing $34 million on its investment due to price declines towards the end of 2022.

Electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla refused to offload any more Bitcoin (BTC) during the latter half of 2022 despite selling off 75% of its holdings in the second quarter.

In its latest Q4 results report on Jan. 25, Tesla’s financials show it neither bought or sold any of its Bitcoin for the second quarter in a row. This was despite hefty market turmoil in November and December on the collapse of FTX.

The documents show the company holds $184 million in digital assets as of Dec. 31, 2022, down from its $218 million in holdings from the quarter prior due to $34 million of impairment charges as Bitcoin’s price declined between the end of September and December last year.

Bitcoin was around $19,500 on Sep. 30, 2022, before dropping almost 15% to $16,600 by Dec. 31.

The EV manufacturer also held onto its Bitcoin through Q3 last year after selling 75% of its Bitcoin during the second quarter. The Q2 sale added $936 million in cash to Tesla’s books and the firm profited $64 million.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk explained at the time the sale was to “prove liquidity of Bitcoin as an alternative to holding cash on a balance sheet.”

However, its Bitcoin holdings or take on Bitcoin was not discussed in Tesla’s most recent earnings call on Jan. 25. Based on estimates, Tesla holds about 9,720 BTC.

Overall, Tesla recorded $5.7 billion in profits from $24.3 billion in revenues for Q4 with its gross margins coming in at the lowest level in five quarters. The company posted a total profit of $20.8 million for 2022 from $81.4 billion in revenues.

In 2022, we produced & delivered 1.3M+ vehicles

In Q4 we achieved our highest-ever quarterly revenue, operating income & net income → https://t.co/6WkUryAhKO pic.twitter.com/aOzmL76uja

— Tesla (@Tesla) January 25, 2023

The revenue figure missed analyst estimates but its profits did better than consensus estimates.

Tesla’s share price was up slightly on the day, closing at a gain of nearly 0.40%. It continued to trade positively after hours, up nearly 4.6% at the time of writing according to Google Finance data.

Elon Musk’s Tesla held onto its Bitcoin in Q4 despite market turbulence

The EV maker continued to hold its estimated 9,720 Bitcoin, only losing $34 million on its investment due to price declines towards the end of 2022.

Electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla refused to offload any more Bitcoin (BTC) during the latter half of 2022 despite selling off 75% of its holdings in the second quarter.

In its Q4 results report on Jan. 25, Tesla’s financials show it neither bought or sold any of its Bitcoin for the second quarter in a row. This was despite the hefty market turmoil in November and December following the collapse of FTX.

The documents show the company holds $184 million in digital assets as of Dec. 31, down from its $218 million in holdings from the quarter prior due to $34 million of impairment charges as Bitcoin’s price declined between the end of September and December last year.

Bitcoin was around $19,500 on Sep. 30, before dropping almost 15% to $16,600 by Dec. 31.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk explained at the time the sale was to “prove liquidity of Bitcoin as an alternative to holding cash on a balance sheet.”

However, its Bitcoin holdings or take on Bitcoin was not discussed in Tesla’s most recent earnings call on Jan. 25. Tesla holds an estimated 9,720 BTC.

In 2022, we produced & delivered 1.3M+ vehicles

In Q4 we achieved our highest-ever quarterly revenue, operating income & net income → https://t.co/6WkUryAhKO pic.twitter.com/aOzmL76uja

— Tesla (@Tesla) January 25, 2023

The revenue figure missed analyst estimates but its profit did better than consensus estimates.

Tesla’s share price was up slightly on the day, closing at a gain of nearly 0.40%. It continued to trade positively after hours, up nearly 4.6% at the time of writing, according to Google Finance.

Bitcoin beats Tesla stock in 2022 as BTC price heads for 60% losses

Bitcoin may be in line for worse losses in the new year, analysts say, but BTC price action has a least fared better than TSLA.

Bitcoin (BTC) circled $16,750 after the Dec. 28 Wall Street open after stocks dragged markets lower.

*BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView*

Bitcoin analysts stick to downside fears

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView tracked BTC/USD as it recovered from local lows of $16,559 on Bitstamp.

After days of barely any movement up or down, Bitcoin finally saw a flicker of action as traditional markets opened after the Christmas break. Unfortunately for bulls, volatility was to the downside, with BTC/USD seeing its lowest levels since Dec. 20.

On equities markets, United States indexes improved after a weak first day, which nonetheless failed to leave much of an impression on BTC commentators, many of whom stuck to grim short-term price forecasts.

“I can’t stress this enough,” Toni Ghinea wrote in part of a Twitter update.

“The sell-off will accelerate in the coming weeks. This bear market is far from over.”

Accompanying charts showed targets for Bitcoin and several altcoins, with Ether (ETH) due a trip as low as $600.

*Bitcoin, Ether, MATIC and ADA price charts. Source: Toni Ghinea/Twitter*

Fellow analytics account Illiquid Markets likewise told followers to “be prepared for even lower prices in 2023,” with these to be “lower than most expect.”

Amid an absence of buyer interest, only MicroStrategy and its CEO, Michael Saylor, were on record for increasing BTC exposure.

The firm, already the public company with the largest Bitcoin treasury, added another 2,500 BTC to its reserves, it confirmed in a filing.

Down, but better than Tesla

At $16,700, meanwhile, BTC/USD traded at around 60% down year-to-date, with three days until the yearly close.

This was noticeably comparable to Tesla stock, which at $113 was on track to seal year-to-date losses of 72% or more.

For Mike McGlone, senior macro strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence, there was enough evidence in the assets’ performance to entertain the possibility of Bitcoin coming out on top.

“The near certainty of declining Bitcoin supply vs. the rising amount of Tesla shares outstanding favors outperformance by the crypto, if the rules of economics apply,” research he posted on Twitter on Dec. 19 read.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s offloading of TSLA in 2022 remained on others’ radar. Discussing trading activity at the firm on Dec. 25, analyst Christopher Bloomstran described both Tesla’s BTC stake and shareholders as “suffering mightily” this year.

“Since the March 15, 2021 rebranding, Tesla and Bitcoin are down 48% and 70%, respectively. Great fun,” he summarized.

*BTC/USD vs. TSLA chart. Source: TradingView*

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the authors’ alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Bitcoin underperforms stocks, gold for the first time since 2018

Bitcoin’s yearly losses are similar to high-profile stocks like Tesla and Meta, with BTC investors down 70% in 2022.

Gold and stocks have underperformed in 2022, but the year has been difficult for Bitcoin (BTC) investors, in particular.

Worst year for Bitcoin since 2018

Bitcoin’s price looks prepared to close 2022 down nearly 70% — its worst year since the crypto crash of 2018.

*Bitcoin monthly returns. Source: Coinglass*

BTC’s depressive performance can be explained by factors such as the United States Federal Reserve hiking interest rates to curb rising inflationary pressures followed by the collapse of many crypto firms, including Terraform Labs, Celsius Network, Three Arrows Capital, FTX and others.

Some companies had exposure to defunct businesses, typically by holding their native tokens. For instance, Galaxy Digital, a crypto-focused investment firm founded by Mike Novogratz, confirmed a $555 million loss in August due to holding Terra’s native asset, LUNA, which has crashed 99.99% year-to-date (YTD).

*Click “Collect” below the illustration at the top of the page or follow this link.*

Meta, Tesla stocks mirror Bitcoin in 2022

The above catalysts have prompted Bitcoin to drop 65% year-to-date.

*BTC/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView*

Meanwhile, the U.S. benchmark S&P 500 has plunged nearly 20% YTD to 3,813 points as of Dec. 28. That puts the index on its biggest calendar-year drop since the 2008 economic crisis. The bloodbath has proven to be worse for the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite, down 35% YTD.

High-profile losers include Amazon, which has crashed approximately 50% YTD, as well as Tesla and Meta, whose stocks have dropped nearly 72.75% and 65%, respectively. As it looks, tech stocks and Bitcoin have suffered similar losses in 2022.

*BTC/USD vs. IXIC, TSLA, META YTD price performance. Source: TradingView*

Just as with Bitcoin, the Fed’s rate hikes remain the most-critical factor behind the U.S. stock market’s underperformance. But whether a tighter monetary policy would cause an economic recession in 2023 remains to be seen.

This uncertainty has driven capital toward the U.S. dollar for safety, with the U.S. Dollar Index (DXY), a barometer to gauge the greenback’s health versus top foreign currencies, rising nearly 8.5% YTD.

*DXY daily price chart. Source: TradingView*

Gold not such a “safe haven”

Spot gold is up 0.14% YTD to nearly $1,800 an ounce, which makes it a better performer than Bitcoin and the U.S. stock market.

*XAU/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView*

Nevertheless, the year has seen gold deviating from its “safe haven” characteristics in the face of a stronger dollar and rising U.S. bond yields.

For instance, the precious metal is down 22% from its 2022 peak of $2,070, though some losses have been pared as the dollar’s uptrend lost momentum in the second half of 2022.

Bitcoin still winning since March 2020

Bitcoin had gained 1,650% after bottoming out in March 2020 below $4,000, boosted by the Fed’s quantitative easing policy. Even as of Dec. 28, investors who purchased Bitcoin in March 2020 are sitting on 332% profits.

*BTC/USD weekly price chart. Source: TradingView*

In comparison, U.S. stock market and gold‘s pandemic era-rally was small.

For instance, the Nasdaq Composite index grew up to 143% after bottoming out at 6,631 points in March 2020. So, investors who may have gained exposure in the Nasdaq stocks during the easing era are sitting atop a maximum of 56% paper profits as of Dec. 28.

*IXIC weekly price chart. Source: TradingView*

It‘s the same for gold, which rose a mere 43% during the pandemic era and is now up 26.50% when measured from its March 2020 bottom of around $1,450.

*XAU/USD weekly price chart. Source: TradingView*

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Bizarre $600K Elon Musk crypto statue marketing stunt falls flat

Elon Musk has not made any public comments regarding a bizarre $600,000 monument of him as a goat, which was delivered to the Tesla headquarters on the weekend.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has seemingly given the cold shoulder to a $600,000 monument of him in goat form — which was created as part of a bizarre crypto marketing stunt.

Delivered to Tesla’s Austin headquarters on Nov. 26, the 30-foot, 12,000-pound metal statue of Elon Musk was part of a publicity stunt by the co-founders of the memecoin Elon Goat Token (EGT).

The statue features the head of Elon Musk on the body of a goat that is riding a rocket. The statue also sees Musk wearing a dog collar with a Dogecoin (DOGE) token attached.

We’re very proud of our accomplishments and commitment to #EGT

We’ve always had long term vision for $EGT and will continue to build the brand and utility.

We feel our hard work can lead to Elon claiming #ElonGOAT and we will work towards this goal! Maybe have some fun too! pic.twitter.com/Rk2Gdn5PpE

— Elon Goat Token (@ElonGoatToken) November 27, 2022

According to the EGT white paper, the whole project was engineered to be roadworthy and fastened to a 50-foot semi-trailer for transportation. The conceptual design was drawn and rendered in Los Angeles.

The founders of EGT, who are self-described “Elon Superfans,” said in the project description on their website they were trying to do “something no other Crypto project has dared to do” to gain recognition and legitimacy for their project with an acknowledgment from Musk.

Unfortunately for EGT, however, the $600,000 monument has failed to gain any public acknowledgment from Musk himself, at least on Twitter.

Despite this, it still got plenty of mainstream media coverage, including from the likes of The Wall Street Journal, Business Insider and The Washington Post.

Plenty of Musk-themed tokens

There isn’t much information about EGT and its purpose other than it was launched in Jan. 2022 on the BNB Smart Chain and has been criticized for its Musk-centric marketing plan and lack of utility featured upon launch, according to its own white paper.

The token is also one of many Elon Musk-themed tokens attempting to exploit the entrepreneur’s fame to market its token. Other Musk-themed tokens include Dogelon Mars (ELON) and spaceTwitterDoge and elonDogeTwit.

As of the time of writing, EGT has 18,400 followers on Twitter, while CoinGecko and CoinMarketCap both list EGT, but neither has data surrounding its market cap. Its price appeared to have spiked momentarily before dipping to month lows after the delivery of the statue.

According to its white paper, EGT claims to now be working on having real utility in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space, having migrated smart contracts from BNB Smart Chain to the Ethereum blockchain.

Over-the-top publicity stunts have been a popular method for crypto projects over the years.

In 2018, Ukrainian social network ASKfm launched an initial coin offering (ICO) by leaving a wallet with 500,000 tokens at the top of Mount Everest, the highest mountain above sea level in the world.

At the time, ASKfm calculated the tokens in the wallet at $50,000, a sum calculated by an estimate of their value once the pre-sale and ICO launch.

Another stunt in 2018 saw the owner of the Epoch Cryptocurrency website Wong Ching-kit drop stacks of cash off a roof in Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong, to promote a competition where participants could allegedly win large cash prizes.

Most recently, Rahul Advani, APAC policy director of Ripple argued that crypto will need to move away from “hype cycles” and toward “building real utility.”

He explained that the fall of FTX will prompt regulators and governments to scrutinize crypto regulations much more closely.