Elon Musk has confirmed a unique move in the automotive industry — in the future, it will be possible to buy a new Tesla with Bitcoin. The US company already accepts cryptocurrency for payments.
This is just the latest chapter in Musk’s love affair with cryptocurrencies, a step that had already been announced last February when the company invested $1.5 billion to buy Bitcoin.
Tesla thus becomes the first major car manufacturer and probably the largest company that supports payments with cryptocurrencies instead of fiat currencies.
As usual, Elon Musk has used Twitter to announce this news and to reiterate his support for Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general. Musk has highlighted that Tesla only uses internal and open-source software to operate Bitcoin nodes directly, without relying on third parties. In that way, we are paying the company directly for the car.
Not only that, but Musk has also promised that the Bitcoin paid to Tesla will not be converted to traditional currencies and that it will remain as Bitcoin forever. In this way, Musk tries to counter the resentment he received from day one when he announced that Tesla was going to invest in Bitcoin.
At the moment, the process of buying a car with Bitcoin is not so straightforward. Car prices still appear only in dollars, and it is the buyer’s job to establish the exact amount of equivalent Bitcoin in their wallet. In addition, the option is only available in the US, and although Musk has anticipated that it will reach the rest of the world this year.
