Tesla fully embraces Bitcoin, now accepts it as a payment option for its cars
Beyond investing $1.5 billion in Bitcoin, Tesla has now opened its doors to accept the leading cryptocurrency as a payment option.
Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk disclosed on Twitter that people “can now buy a Tesla with Bitcoin.” The tweet immediately went viral, gaining over 15,000 retweets in a few minutes.
You can now buy a Tesla with Bitcoin
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 24, 2021
Musk has been quite active in the cryptocurrency space of late. Since late last year, he has repeatedly shill Bitcoin and Dogecoin.
The Bitcoin payment option is currently available only to U.S. residents. Support for other countries is expected to go live later in the year.
Considering how easy it is to convert Bitcoin to stablecoins or even fiat currencies, one could argue that the move by Tesla is a marketing gimmick. However, Musk has added an interesting twist to Tesla’s romance with Bitcoin. He said:
Tesla is using only internal & open source software & operates bitcoin nodes directly. Bitcoin paid to Tesla will be retained as bitcoin, not converted to fiat currency.
What this means is that the leading car manufacturer would have to deal with Bitcoin’s volatility. But so far, Tesla has gained big on its Bitcoin bet. Although the firm did not disclose how much it bought Bitcoin for, the digital asset was trading at around $34,000 when the disclosure was made. As of press time, Bitcoin was exchanging hands at $51,000 after reaching a new all-time high of above $60,000.
