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NEW YORK: Tesla said on Monday (February 8) that it had invested about $ 1.5 billion in bitcoin and expected to start accepting payments for its cars and other products with it in the near future, prompting a jump in electronic currency.
Tesla said in a presentation that the decision was part of its broad investment policy as a company and was aimed at diversifying and maximizing its cash earnings.
It said it had invested a total of US $ 1.5 billion in bitcoins under the modified policy and that it could “acquire and hold digital assets from time to time or for the long term.”
Bitcoin rose to a new high above $ 44,000 after Tesla made the disclosure.
The electric car maker revealed the investment 10 days after its CEO, Elon Musk, raised the price of the cryptocurrency by adding a “#bitcoin” tag to his Twitter profile page.
Musk removed the tag from his Twitter bio a few days later, but has continued to talk about bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, particularly dogecoin, to his 46 million Twitter followers.
In December, he had raised the possibility of converting “large transactions” from Tesla’s balance sheet into bitcoin.
