Tesla holds 11,509 BTC with a total cost basis of roughly $386 million to $387 million, an implied average cost of roughly $33,500 to $33,600 per coin. Block holds approximately 9,117 BTC, accumulated between 2020 and 2021 at an original outlay of about $220 million, which works out to an average near $24,000 per coin. Both positions remain profitable in the current market, while many other corporate holders face unrealized losses because their average acquisition prices sit well above what earlier buyers paid.

How they got here

Tesla's Bitcoin story is a tale of two decisions. The company originally deployed roughly $1.5 billion into Bitcoin in early 2021, a move announced alongside a short-lived experiment accepting Bitcoin for vehicle payments that Tesla suspended months later, citing the cryptocurrency's energy usage. Then, in Q2 2022, it sold approximately 75% of that position, leaving a leaner remainder with a lower average cost. Tesla has held the remaining stake stable since 2022.

In Q3 2025, Tesla reported an $80 million gain on its Bitcoin holdings, a figure that reflects how the restructured position has performed under fair-value accounting rules that now require companies to mark crypto assets to market each quarter.

Block's path was steadier. The payments company led by Jack Dorsey — then still named Square — began buying Bitcoin in October 2020, when it purchased 4,709 BTC for $50 million, and continued through 2021, building its position gradually. It has since kept making small dollar-cost averaging additions, growing its holdings incrementally without dramatically pushing its average cost upward. Block has moved slowly and deliberately throughout.

Why this matters beyond the two companies

Both Tesla and Block rank among the top 15 public companies by Bitcoin holdings, yet their situations differ fundamentally from peers that entered at higher prices during later market cycles. The treasury playbook they joined early was pioneered by MicroStrategy — since renamed Strategy — which began converting corporate cash into Bitcoin in August 2020 and remains the largest corporate holder by a wide margin; a wave of newer entrants followed as the strategy spread through 2024 and 2025, many carrying cost bases far above those of the first movers.

Fair-value accounting, which the Financial Accounting Standards Board mandated for crypto assets, means unrealized losses show up directly on income statements. Under the prior treatment, Bitcoin was booked as an indefinite-lived intangible asset: companies recorded impairments when prices fell but could not write values back up when prices recovered. Tesla recorded periods of impairment losses under that older accounting regime before FASB's Accounting Standards Update 2023-08 took effect for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2024. The Q3 2025 gain reflects the cleaner picture that mark-to-market accounting provides: the position is worth more than Tesla paid for it.

The same mechanics also run in reverse: mark-to-market transmits Bitcoin's quarterly price swings into reported earnings in both directions, so corporate holders' income statements — Tesla's and Block's included — now move with the market each quarter rather than reflecting losses only when prices fall.

Block's cost basis of roughly $220 million for more than 9,100 BTC represents an average acquisition price that most companies entering the Bitcoin treasury space today simply cannot replicate.