ELON MUSK: TESLA NOW ACCEPTS BITCOIN AS A PAYMENT METHOD

Tesla, an American electric vehicle and clean energy company, now accepts Bitcoin for buying a car in America. The option for other countries, will be offered later this year.

Elon Musk had already announced at the beginning of February 2021, that he would accept Bitcoin as a payment method. Now the payment option is officially available in the USA.

Tesla relies exclusively on self-assembled open source solutions and operates its own Bitcoin node. The electric car manufacturer thus bypasses external payment processors for accepting the cryptocurrency.

Musk explained in a tweet: “Bitcoin paid to Tesla will be retained as Bitcoin, not converted to fiat currency,” Mr. Musk explained in a tweet.

This means when someone buys Tesla with bitcoins, the price of the car could rise or fall over time. Tesla is actually turning one-time payments into assets with shifting value, or investments

At the beginning of February, Tesla used its corporate cash to buy $ 1.5 billion in the digital coins.

Outside the USA, bitcoin payment option, should be offered during the year.  However, the company still doesn’t share, in which countries it will end up in.

After Tesla made the enormous purchase of Bitcoin public in February, the price of the cryptocurrency rose to its peak value of $43,000. Currently, the value is even more than 56,000 dollars. Even if Bitcoin is still considered highly volatile, in the short term, the investment should have paid off.

It is also unclear, how Musk’ Bitcoin bet will reach customers who want to buy an e-car out of environmental reasons in the long term.

While other cryptocurrencies rely on more energy-efficient mining mechanisms, electricity consumption in bitcoin mining is still quite high.

According to a study, Tesla’s purchase of Bitcoin corresponds to the average carbon footprint of 1.8 million cars with a combustion engine.