It will be possible to buy a new Tesla with Bitcoin, confirmed today by Elon Musk himself, who announced that the company already accepts the most popular cryptocurrency as a payment method.
It is possible to buy Tesla cars with Bitcoin now
Musk has already taken a step when the company invested $1.5B in Bitcoin. Tesla thus becomes the first major car manufacturer, and probably the largest company, to support payments with cryptocurrencies.
As usual, Elon Musk has used Twitter to announce this development and to reiterate his support for Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general.
For Tesla, offering Bitcoin sales also means greater control over its finances; Musk has emphasized that Tesla only uses internal, open-source software to operate Bitcoin nodes directly, without relying on third parties. This way, we are paying directly to the company.
Elon Musk says the company will not convert Bitcoin to other currencies
Elon Musk has also promised that Bitcoins paid to buy a Tesla will not be converted to other currencies and will remain as Bitcoin forever. Musk is trying to respond to the criticism he received from the first day he announced that Tesla was going to invest in Bitcoin.
The fear for investors is that Tesla was speculating on Bitcoin, using Musk’s Internet fame to spike the price of the cryptocurrency and sell at the right time. That could have meant a big income for the company, but Musk now claims he will not sell the Bitcoin obtained from car sales.
This is not the first time Musk’s actions have affected the cryptocurrency market; when Muks left Twitter temporarily in favor of Clubhouse, he focused on promoting Dogecoin, one of the alternatives to Bitcoin whose image based on an Internet ‘meme’ has even appeared on SpaceX rockets.
At the moment, the process of buying a car with Bitcoin is not so straightforward; the price of the cars still appears only in dollars, and it is the buyer’s job to establish the exact amount of Bitcoin equivalent in his/her wallet.
Moreover, the option is only available in the U.S., and even though Musk has advanced that it will reach the rest of the world later this year, everything depends on the formalities.
