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Elon Musk, Tesla Shock World with Massive $1.5b Investment in Bitcoin
He finally did it.
After years of joking about Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency, Elon Musk has made the biggest single corporate investment into Bitcoin in history.
Earlier today Tesla disclosed to the SEC that it has invested a staggering $1.5 billion into Bitcoin. That’s not all, however, as the company also announced that it will start accepting payment for its vehicles in Bitcoin.
News of Tesla’s involvement with Bitcoin paid immediate dividends for BTC as the price of the dominant cryptocurrency soared to a new all-time high of $43,000 and it’s still climbing.
Tesla Joins MicroStrategy, Square in Holding BTC on the Balance Sheet
Tesla may be the latest company to bet big on Bitcoin but it’s hardly the only one.
Software company MicroStrategy, and pro-Bitcoin CEO Michael Saylor, arguably started the trend by making an initial investment of $250 million in Bitcoin this August.
Microstrategy has continued to acquire Bitcoin and it now holds over $3 billion of Bitcoin on its balance sheet.
Square, which is already involved in the world of cryptocurrency with its fintech product Cash App, also purchased $50 million worth of Bitcoin in October.
Despite Tesla’s massive investment of $1.5 billion in Bitcoin, it really only represents 8% of the surging company’s balance sheet.
Now that Tesla, arguably the fastest growing company in the world, has made such a significant investment in Bitcoin it remains to be seen as to whether other significant companies will follow suit.
Regardless it’s extremely bullish news for Bitcoin.
Elon Musk’s Long Road to Bitcoin
It will likely surprise some investors that Elon Musk has finally made a significant investment in the crypto space. Musk has had a long and interesting relationship with Bitcoin.
He’s been discussing cryptocurrency for years but seemed to flip back and forth on whether he truly believed in the value proposition of it.
At one point Musk was quoted as saying Bitcoin was, “almost as bad as fiat”. He would later walk that back slightly and endorse Bitcoin’s structure as “brilliant” but not quite right for Tesla. He also confirmed that he only owned .25 of a Bitcoin that a friend sent him.
Musk would also frequently pump the meme coin Dogecoin, much to the chagrin of more serious crypto investors.
Early last year, however, Musk did ask Michael Saylor on Twitter if it would be possible to convert Tesla’s market cap to Bitcoin.
Saylor said that it would indeed be possible and, apparently, that set the gears in motion to where we’ve arrived today.
More recently Musk added hashtag Bitcoin to his Twitter profile and said in a Clubhouse audio chat that he’s now a believer in Bitcoin.
Musk went so far as to say “I think Bitcoin is on the verge of getting broad acceptance by conventional finance people.”
