On Wednesday, March 24, car manufacturer Tesla included a Bitcoin payment option for its goods. The boss of the company, Elon Musk, declared this on his Twitter account.
“You can now purchase Tesla by Bitcoin,” Musk announced.
Although this payment method is currently only offered to US customers, it will be launched in other countries later in 2021.
“We will not exchange Bitcoins accepted as payments for fiat currency,” Musk added.
In the immediate aftermath of the company’s announcement, the Bitcoin price rose sharply. Over a single hour, the cryptocurrency increased in price by $1.7 thousand, reaching levels above $55K before stabilising at lower rates.
Tesla revealed its intent to add the option of purchases with cryptocurrency to the US Securities and Exchange Commission at the beginning of February. In fact, the company declared this at the time it disclosed its $1.5 billion investment in Bitcoin. The automaker was provided with the service for its massive investment by the American crypto exchange Coinbase.
Musk asserted that Tesla’s proceedings do not precisely reflect his views, since he deems Bitcoin “merely a less stupid type of financial resource than cash savings.” The CEO of the company conceded that investing in a $1.5 billion cryptocurrency is a bit irresponsible for a company standing high on the S&P 500 index.
