The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Tesla Motors, Elon Musk, has announced that buyers can now pay for vehicles using Bitcoin– and the company won’t change the digital asset to a fiat currency Bitcoin has already been catered for in the firm’s balance sheet. Musk disclosed the news in a tweet he shared on Twitter on Tuesday, explaining that Tesla Motors has added Bitcoin to the payment options of its electric cars. A look at the EV manufacturer’s website shows that the Bitcoin button has been added.
Tesla won’t change the Bitcoin it accepts to a fiat currency
Besides accepting Bitcoin, Musk explained that the firm wouldn’t convert the Bitcoin to another government-backed currency. Instead, any receipt will go directly to the company’s Bitcoin reserves, which will reflect in its accounts in the same version. In January, Tesla invested $1.5 billion in Bitcoin. While presenting its February filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the firm revealed that it had begun the plan to add Bitcoin to its payment options to enable buyers to pay for its products using Bitcoin. In less than two months, Tesla has already effected the change. The Bitcoin button has now been added to the website.
Musk said that Tesla would use its own private and open-source software to operate Bitcoin nodes directly. However, only customers resident in the US can pay now pay with Bitcoin. Before the end of the year, customers outside the US will be able to pay using Bitcoin.
But at the moment, Bitcoin has shed a portion of its value after reaching its all-time high. The recent fall in the currency partly contributes to Musk’s drop from the first to the second richest man worldwide after being outranked by Jeff Bezos, who is now worth $184 billion compared to Musk’s $171 billion.
Customers may be reluctant to part away with their Bitcoin
In a reaction to the announcement, Bitcoin jumped to $55,000 after shedding a portion of its value earlier in the week. In the past months, Musk had tweeted about Bitcoin and Dogecoin to promote the two tokens, and the market has reacted positively to that. However, the rise in the price of Bitcoin may make people reluctant to part away with the digital asset. So, Tesla’s offer to accept the leading cryptocurrency as a payment option may not receive the expected outcome. A case to buttress this is Mark Kuban, the basketball team that has earlier accepted Bitcoin as a payment option for its products.
According to the basketball team’s founder, Dallas Mavericks, since about six years that the team has approved the Bitcoin option, clients haven’t paid with it. He added that he did so to “prove a point” that people are not ready to part away with their Bitcoin. But the situation can change if Tesla’s customers are convinced to buy vehicles paying in Bitcoin. That’s not all! Tesla needs to outrank Lamborghini as the Bitcoiner’s choice to retain his first position of world richest man. A few weeks ago, Musk changed his profile title to “Techno King of Tesla.” Likewise, his CFO, Zach Kirkhorn, included “Master of Coin.”