Tesla has invested $1.5 billion in bitcoin and plans to start accepting the cryptocurrency as payment “in the near future,” the electric automaker said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The move is a major sign of support for bitcoin and could encourage other major companies to follow suit in accepting the world’s most popular cryptocurrency. Dan Ives, managing director of equity research at Wedbush Securities, called Tesla’s embrace of bitcoin a potentially “game-changing move.” An HSB survey published in 2020 found that 36% of small and midsized American businesses accept cryptocurrency. Tesla will join big names such as Microsoft, Wikipedia and PayPal in accepting bitcoin worldwide. Tesla’s chief executive Elon Musk has been vocal in his enthusiasm for cryptocurrency in recent days. In an early February interview on Clubhouse, the popular audio chat app, Musk called himself a bitcoin supporter and said he’d been “late to the party.” He also briefly added #bitcoin to his Twitter bio.
— Washington Post
