Elon Musk has announced that Tesla cars can now be purchased using Bitcoin (BTC). The electric car company’s CEO and “Technoking” said the firm would operate Bitcoin nodes directly, and would hold on to the Bitcoin it accumulates without converting it to fiat.
You can now buy a Tesla with Bitcoin
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 24, 2021
Tesla first signaled its intention to start accepting Bitcoin for products in early February, following its purchase of $1.5 billion worth of the digital asset, an SEC filing showed. The option to buy a Tesla using BTC will only be extended to U.S-based customers for the time being.
Elon Musk’s insistence that the Bitcoin earned through the sale of the firm’s vehicles won’t be converted to fiat suggests it is not just being utilized as a transactional medium, but also an investment tool.
Tesla is using only internal & open source software & operates Bitcoin nodes directly.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 24, 2021
Bitcoin paid to Tesla will be retained as Bitcoin, not converted to fiat currency.
By running its own dedicated Bitcoin nodes, Tesla will join a global network of peer-to-peer operators who host and synchronize the Bitcoin blockchain.
Visitors to Tesla's website from a U.S.-based IP address will now see a new Bitcoin payment widget added to the site's checkout options. The impact of Tesla's acceptance of Bitcoin may have been felt on the cryptocurrency market early on Wednesday. Coinciding with the breaking of the news, the dollar value of Bitcoin jumped 2.9% from $54,056 to $55,630.
Tesla's Bitcoin terms and conditions do state that Bitcoin is the only digital asset that Tesla accepts as payment for its products at this time. "You may not make purchases with us using any other digital asset, including Bitcoin fork products, such as Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin SV. Our Bitcoin digital wallet is not configured to detect or receive digital assets other than Bitcoin," state the terms.