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Tesla’s Bitcoin investment has been a rollercoaster ride of gains and losses
One of the ultimate joyrides as a human is riding a rollercoaster. The anticipation of sitting in the train, waiting for dispatch as you slowly climb up the first gigantic hill, all for the anticipation to break. Suddenly, you’re falling down a 200+ foot drop, awaiting the next rise, which will unequivocally result in another slight drop. A short time later, you’re right back to where you started, in a pavilion, waiting to get off of the ride.
Tesla’s Bitcoin investment has been a comparable scenario described above: a meteoric climb, succeeded by a sharp drop, followed by tiny peaks and valleys. Ultimately, Tesla is right back to where it started.
In the company’s 10-Q filing with the SEC earlier today, the electric car company based out of Northern California detailed its tumultuous experience with Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency that could likely be attributed to most of the ranting and raving regarding digital assets. It allowed anyone who can access the document a peek into what kind of swings Tesla has been experiencing through its investment into Bitcoin, which was detailed in the 10-K filing after Q4 2020 results.
Climbing up the first hill
Tesla’s $1.5 billion investment started in the gate and quickly took off up the first hill of gains like a launch rollercoaster. The first hill lasted quite some time, as Bitcoin eclipsed $64,000 and put Tesla up a substantial sum. It is not known how many BTC Tesla received when it initially invested the $1.5 billion, but it is estimated that the price of the crypto was between $29,333 and $37,020. This would put Tesla’s potential holdings at between 37,020 to 51,137 BTC.
It was estimated that Tesla made close to or more than $1 billion as Bitcoin continued to rise in value through the early portion of 2021. According to an April report from Teslarati, “Even if Tesla only acquired the minimal amount of 37,020 Bitcoin in January, the company’s $1.5 billion investment would still be worth $2.3 billion today, hinting at a healthy profit of $800 million,” and that’s figure originates from the possibility of their lowest BTC investment. Tesla said it realized gains of $128 million from its digital assets in March 2021 alone.
After reaching all-time highs of over $64,829, Bitcoin started to tumble, bringing Tesla’s rollercoaster ride down its first and largest hill.
The Big Drop
The big drop occurred as Bitcoin began to slide in mid-May. From May 8th to the 22nd, Bitcoin slid from $58,788 to under $37,500. At one point, BTC even struck the $30,000 range before recovering to $38,000.
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The slide was met with uncertainty, worry, and anxiety by many investors. But Musk solidified the fact that Tesla would keep its “diamond hands” and continue holding BTC, despite the volatility experienced during its epic fall.
The company wrote:
“During the three and six months ended June 30, 2021, we recorded $23 million and $50 million, respectively, of impairment losses on such digital assets.”
The Ride: Back to the Beginning
Through the tumultuous ride of the BTC rollercoaster through the first half of 2021, Tesla rode the hills, the turns, and loops and ended up right back where it started (basically). As of June 30, Tesla says the fair market value of such digital assets “was $1.47 billion.” Additionally, the company said that “as of June 30, 2021, the carrying value of our digital assets held was $1.31 billion, which reflects cumulative impairments of $50 million.”
It has been exciting, and it has been uncertain, but Tesla, like the rest of investors, is just along for the ride. Bitcoin’s volatility over the past few months may not have been expected by the diehard cryptocurrency supporters that have vocally supported it since its early days. Still, like anything else, it is an investment. Tesla is banking on a wider adoption of crypto in the coming months and years, something it has dabbled with in the past.
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Investor's Corner
SpaceX and Nvidia team up on Musk’s orbital AI bet
SpaceX revealed a new Nvidia satellite partnership, then Musk pledged an exclusive Nvidia hardware commitment.
SpaceX and Nvidia are now working together on the hardware that will power Musk’s orbital data center ambitions. SpaceX announced on X on Tuesday that it is partnering with Nvidia to design the compute payload for Starmind AI1, the first satellite in a planned constellation built to run AI workloads directly in orbit. Each Starmind satellite will carry Nvidia’s Rubin GPUs and Vera CPUs, according to the post, which included renderings of the payload design.
The announcement landed hours before SpaceX’s first earnings call as a public company, where Musk went further, saying the company has committed to building its AI infrastructure exclusively on Nvidia hardware. “We think the Vera Rubin architecture is the best architecture. We think it’s the best AI computer, and we greatly value our close cooperation and partnership on many levels with Nvidia,” Musk told investors on the call,. “So we’re exclusive to Nvidia.”
Musk said SpaceX plans to deploy Nvidia’s Vera Rubin NVL72 rackscale system, codenamed Kyber, both on the ground and in space. He set a target of 2 gigawatts of compute capacity online by the end of this year, scaling to roughly 10 gigawatts by the end of 2027.
SpaceX’s newest Starmind will make earth data centers obsolete
Starmind has been in development since Musk confirmed the name in June, following an xAI trademark filing that tipped off the project before SpaceX made it official. The idea is massive in scope and instead of moving data down to ground based servers, satellites equipped with onboard processors and large solar arrays would compute AI workloads in orbit and beam results back to Earth. SpaceX has already filed with the FCC for a constellation of up to one million satellites to support the effort, citing constant solar power and the absence of zoning restrictions as advantages over terrestrial data centers.
The Nvidia exclusivity marks a shift in tone from just two weeks ago, when Musk was busy knocking down a report that SpaceX had ordered $52 billion worth of Nvidia GPUs through Foxconn, calling it fake news at the time. The dollar figure in that rumor may have been wrong, but the underlying direction seems correct. SpaceX’s AI division already leases Colossus compute capacity to Anthropic and Google, and Tuesday’s earnings report showed AI revenue climbing sharply as those deals ramp up.
Nvidia shares rose roughly 3% in Tuesday trading on the news, while SpaceX stock climbed nearly 9% during the day before giving back gains after hours as investors digested the earnings report’s capital spending figures.
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SpaceX (NASDAQ: SPCX) reported a beat in revenues and EBITDA in its first earnings call report while also minimizing losses as its business continues to gain momentum.
After its IPO in July, SpaceX saw some tough losses on Wall Street due to a major selloff after a delay in its 13th Starship test flight. The ship launched later that week and completed what was arguably the most successful IFT operation in the Starship program’s history.
Nevertheless, the company is continuing on and reported some encouraging financials while also promoting what appears to be a robust outlook moving forward in its Space, AI, and Connectivity divisions.
SpaceX to report first-ever earnings today: here’s what to expect
Earnings Results
- Revenues: $7.8 billion reported vs. $6.7 billion expected
- Adjusted EBITDA: $3.5 billion vs. $2 billion expected
- Net loss of $541 million, an improvement of $467 million from net loss of $1.0 billion
Additionally, CFO Bret Johnsen had these comments:
“2026 has been a momentous year so far, and the second quarter demonstrated the true power of SpaceX. Revenue growth accelerated across all our business segments and we delivered strong operating leverage, with significant margin expansion led by our new AI compute agreements. Our unparalleled leadership in launch, Starlink subscriber growth, new enterprise and government partnerships, and best-in-class AI infrastructure underscore our ability to drive meaningful scale and deliver attractive returns. As a newly public company, we are delighted to welcome our broad base of shareholders and bondholders. We ended the second quarter with $100 billion of cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities, and $47.5 billion in backlog. This financial strength gives us substantial capacity to invest in Starship, Starlink Broadband and Mobile satellites, and our AI platform, while maintaining a disciplined long-term capital allocation framework.”
Space Business Highlights
SpaceX shared some of its biggest Space Business Highlights for Q2:
- Space revenues grew 55% sequentially and 29% year-over-year to $962 million, driven by a higher number of large customer launches and a favorable customer shift compared to the prior year
- Total costs and expenses for the Space segment were up by $389 million year-over-year, as we continued to accelerate R&D investments in our Starship program, which we believe will reduce the cost to orbit by 99% or more relative to the historical average, and unlock significant revenue potential across all business segments
- Leading launch provider for the world with 78 launches and 1,041 metric tons of mass to orbit deployed over the six months ended June 30, 2026, primarily allocated to Connectivity for the deployment of our Starlink constellation
- Starship V3 development continued to advance towards full and rapid reusability:
- Completed Starship V3’s first suborbital mission in May, Flight 12, which achieved a successful lift off from our new Starbase pad, a precision landing of Starship’s upper stage, and deployment of modified V2 Starlink satellites
- Subsequent to the second quarter, completed Starship Flight 13 in July, which achieved all flight objectives including deploying 20 production V3 satellites, demonstrating in-space relight of a Raptor engine, and executing the softest ever splashdown of Starship, providing critical views of an intact heatshield
SpaceX will report its earnings today at 4:30 P.M. EDT.
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Elon Musk issued a second pointed warning to SpaceX short sellers on Tuesday, just hours before the company was set to release its first quarterly earnings as a publicly traded firm. Responding to a report highlighting elevated short interest, Musk wrote on X: “I try to warn them, but they just double down …”
The comment came as data from S3 Partners showed roughly 95 percent of available SPCX shares to borrow were on loan, translating to about 34 percent short interest as a percentage of the float. The stock has traded under pressure since its record-breaking IPO in June 2026, declining significantly from early peaks.
I try to warn them, but they just double down … 🤷♂️
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 4, 2026
This marks the second such message from Musk in under three weeks.
On July 17, amid post-IPO volatility, he stated: “The survival probability of firms who maintain a significant short position in SpaceX over time is very low.” At that time, SPCX had fallen roughly 30 percent from its peak above a $2.6 trillion valuation, with short sellers reportedly realizing gains of about $8.7 billion.
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Musk’s warning aligned with optimistic analyses projecting that Starship-driven cost reductions could enable a multi-trillion-dollar space economy through applications such as orbital solar power, asteroid mining, data centers, and Mars-related projects, positioning SpaceX as critical infrastructure.
SpaceX is scheduled to report second-quarter results after the market close later today, followed by a webcast. Analysts anticipate revenue near $6.9 billion, reflecting growth in Starlink, launch services, and AI-related segments. The earnings release precedes a major lockup expiration on August 6 that could free hundreds of millions of insider shares.
Musk has a long track record of confronting short sellers, particularly regarding Tesla, where he has argued that persistent bearish positions underestimate transformative technologies. Critics view his optimism as overly ambitious given near-term stock fluctuations, while supporters see temporary dips as opportunities in a longer-term expansion of the space economy.
As SpaceX opens its books to public scrutiny for the first time, the high short interest and Musk’s repeated cautions set the stage for heightened market attention on the results and management’s commentary.
SpaceX and Nvidia team up on Musk’s orbital AI bet
SpaceX reports beat in first earnings while minimizing losses
