Tesla has started accepting bitcoin, Elon Musk said on Wednesday, fulfilling a promise from last month when the U.S. electric vehicle (EV) maker invested as much as US$1.5 billion in bitcoin.
"You can now buy a Tesla with Bitcoin," Musk tweeted early on Wednesday.
"Tesla is using only internal & open source software & operates Bitcoin nodes directly. Bitcoin paid to Tesla will be retained as Bitcoin, not converted to fiat currency," he added.
The price of bitcoin jumped by 5 percent after Musk's announcement and was trading at $56,923 on Wednesday morning.
Last month, the price of bitcoin surged to the then all-time high after Tesla revealed in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it had purchased as much as US$1.5 billion worth of bitcoin.
The announcement from early February also suggested that the company will likely begin accepting cryptocurrency as a payment option, with the statement reading: "Moreover, we expect to begin accepting bitcoin as a form of payment for our products in the near future, subject to applicable laws and initially on a limited basis, which we may or may not liquidate upon receipt."
According to Musk, the option for bitcoin payment will initially be only available to U.S. customers, but the EV manufacturer will gradually roll out this payment option to other markets in the coming months.
"Elon Musk has surprised everyone today again and traders are waking up to this big news that Bitcoin has the ability the buy Tesla," Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at brokerage Avatrade, wrote in a note on Wednesday, as carried by The National.
"There is no doubt that Tesla is the future for the car industry and the fact that we can use Bitcoin to buy Tesla says everything about adoption," Aslam added.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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