Tesla founder Elon Musk announced on his Twitter that it is now possible to buy the company's electric cars with bitcoin. At the moment, this payment method is only available to US customers. Musk said the option to pay for vehicles with bitcoin outside of the US would be available later this year.
The option to pay with bitcoin has already appeared on the website of Tesla. The manufacturer of electric vehicles does not accept other cryptocurrencies, the company's website indicates.
Tesla is using only internal & open source software & operates Bitcoin nodes directly.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 24, 2021
Bitcoin paid to Tesla will be retained as Bitcoin, not converted to fiat currency.
Musk clarified that the bitcoins that the company will earn from selling cars would not be converted into fiat currency. Right after the company's announcement, the bitcoin rate grew sharply, and the cryptocurrency exceeded the $55 thousand mark. On February 16, the bitcoin rate crossed the $50 thousand mark for the first time in history.
Tesla announced its intention to add the option of paying for cars with bitcoin in a report to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in early February. Tesla Inc. reported that it acquired bitcoins for $1.5 billion and would soon begin to accept them as payment for electric vehicles. After that, the cost of bitcoin exceeded 47 thousand US dollars.
The Internet Protocol
Commenting on the news, Elon Musk said that the company's actions do not directly reflect his opinion. He said that such significant investments in bitcoin are quite adventurous for a company from the S&P 500 index. He also added that he considers bitcoin almost as stupid as traditional money.
Tesla became the first major automaker to agree to accept bitcoin as a form of payment for its goods.
