In an SEC filing on Monday, Elon Musk’s Tesla revealed that it has bought $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin and will soon accept Bitcoin as a payment method for products in the future.
CNBC reports that in a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Tesla revealed that it had bought $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin to have “more flexibility to further diversify and maximize returns on our cash.”
The electric vehicle maker also stated that it will start accepting payments in Bitcoin in exchange for its products “subject to applicable laws and initially on a limited basis.” This would make Tesla the first major automaker to accept cryptocurrency as payment.
Tesla’s decision to move into Bitcoin shows tremendous faith in the cryptocurrency as the company invests a significant percentage of its cash in the digital currency. Tesla had more than $19 billion in cash and cash equivalents on hand at the end of 2020 according to the company’s most recent filing.
Company CEO Elon Musk has been credited with increasing the price of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Dogecoin by posting positive messages surrounding the digital currencies on Twitter in recent weeks. Two weeks ago, Musk added the hashtag #bitcoin to his Twitter bio in a move that appeared to increase the price of Bitcoin by around 20 percent.
Two days later speaking on the social media chat site Clubhouse, Musk stated: “I do at this point think bitcoin is a good thing, and I am a supporter of bitcoin.”
Bitcoin price has surged on Monday following Tesla’s announcement, reaching a price of $44,200. Tesla shares were all up by two percent on Monday morning.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com
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