Bitcoin, the cultural phenomena that no one understood at first and no-one can wait to get in on now, has been gaining popularity day by day due its rising dollar price. Last month, electric-car maker and ‘techking’, Elon Musk bought $1.5 billion worth of the technology through Tesla, hinting that the company would start accepting it as a valid mode of payment very soon.
Now, he has announced in a tweet, that the day has finally come and Bitcoin will now be accepted as a mode of payment for Tesla cars.
You can now buy a Tesla with Bitcoin
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 24, 2021
In the tweet made on Wednesday, he also clarified that payment made by Bitcoin will be retained in Bitcoin and not be converted into conventional or fiat money, adding that Tesla shall be using internal and open sourced software for all transactions.
While currently payment by Bitcoin is available in the United States only, this payment method will be available to consumers outside of the States by the end of this year. This is in line with Elon Musk’s tweet last month, where he criticized the traditional cash, while promoting cryptocurrencies. He had said “(when cash) has negative real interest, only a fool wouldn’t look elsewhere.”
The payment method will go up on the website soon, along with other methods such as Apple Pay. To pay, customers will either have to scan the QR code available on the website or fill in the Bitcoin address and amount in your wallet. Customers will have all of 30 minutes to do this and will be required to complete the whole transaction at once.
While Tesla is not the first company to invest in Bitcoin, it is surely is one of the biggest ones, and to accept it as a mode of payment shows the market’s acceptance of the technology.
Owing to this development, the prices of Bitcoin have also soared, as new investors take more interest in the same.
What is interesting here is that a bill has been introduced in the Indian Lok Sabha, looking to ban cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin in the nation. This is due to concerns expressed by certain experts over the impact cryptocurrencies might have on the overall financial stability of India. Whether this bill will be passed or not, and how much – if at all – this will affect this new development in Tesla, remains to be seen.
