According to reports and a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, electric vehicle maker Tesla has bought a shit tonne of Bitcoin, and might even accept the perennial cryptocurrency as payment for its cars at some point in the future.
The SEC filing, made earlier today, disclosed that Tesla has bought $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin, pushing its price to over $40,000 in the process.
The EV company is also reportedly entertaining the idea of letting customers use the cryptocurrency to buy its cars in the future.
However, take that with $1.5 billion worth of salt, because there is still regulatory uncertainty around that.
[Read: How much does it cost to buy, own, and run an EV? It’s not as much as you think]
Before Tesla accepts Bitcoin as payment for its cars, it would need to figure out how to process payments, hold the digital coins, and price its vehicles taking into consideration the extreme volatility of the internet money.
In the filing Tesla said that it “expect[s] to begin accepting bitcoin as a form of payment for [its] products in the near future, subject to applicable laws and initially on a limited basis, which [it] may or may not liquidate upon receipt.”
So it’s all quite vague so far.
Tesla, and Musk in particular, is no stranger to blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Musk has often meme’d about the likes of Dogecoin, whilst Tesla has reportedly used blockchain-based tech to track elements of its supply chain.
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Published February 8, 2021 — 13:41 UTC