Tesla to accept Bitcoin as payment after $1.5bn investment

Elon Musk-owned car manufacturer Tesla has announced that it will begin accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment, according to and SEC filing.

The filing also states that Tesla has purchased $1.5 billion worth of the cryptocurrency, with the news sending Bitcoin to a new all-time high of $44,000.

Musk now joins the likes of Michael Saylor and Jack Dorsey in purchasing a large block of Bitcoin, with Saylor putting $1.4 billion of MicroStrategy’s balance sheet into Bitcoin earlier this year.

The filing, which comes one week after Musk changed his Twitter bio to “Bitcoin” when the price was at $32,000, goes on to state that TEsla “may acquire and hold digital assets from time to time or long-term”.

“We invested an aggregate $1.50 billion in bitcoin under this policy.” The statement continued. “Moreover, we expect to begin accepting bitcoin as a form of payment for our products in the near future, subject to applicable laws and initially on a limited basis, which we may or may not liquidate upon receipt.”

During Bitcoin’s 11-year history its use case as a means of payment has always suffered due to its perceived volatility, however a company as large as Tesla endorsing it may begin to quash those fears.

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