Tesla stashes $1.5 bln in bitcoin, to accept as payment for cars soon

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Tesla stashes $1.5 bln in bitcoin, to accept as payment for cars soon

February 8th, 2021

Awake Goy

Tesla Inc said on Monday it had invested around $1.5 billion in bitcoin and expected to begin accepting payment for its cars and other products with it in the near future, prompting a 7% jump in the electronic currency.

Tesla said in a filing the decision was part of its broad investment policy as a company and was aimed at diversifying and maximizing its returns on cash.

It said it had invested an aggregate $1.5 billion in bitcoin under the changed policy and could “acquire and hold digital assets from time to time or long-term.”

Bitcoin surged after Tesla made the disclosure to hit a record high.

Bitcoin also surged last month by 14% when Tesla Inc chief Elon Musk tagged it on his twitter biography and wrote #bitcoin.

The billionaire entrepreneur, followed by 43.8 million users on Twitter, has a record of making market-moving comments on the site.

He did the same with GameStop Corp when he tweeted “Gamestonk!!” with a link to Reddit Wallstreetbets stock trading discussion group.

“Stonks” is a tongue-in-cheek term for stocks widely used on social media.

In 2019, Bitcoin jumped over 300% as US investors sought exposure to the cryptocurrency.

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