Tesla Hints at Resuming Bitcoin Payments

Electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer Tesla has hinted at reinstating Bitcoin payments for its products and services. The EV firm revealed this in its latest quarterly report where it also confirmed that it had purchased Bitcoin worth $1.5 billion early this year. Tesla sold part of its Bitcoin holdings later in April, which it acknowledged was to test the liquidity of the digital asset.

While the news of Tesla’s Bitcoin payments reinstatement will likely pique the interest of Bitcoin proponents, the reason for Tesla’s change of stance may not be unconnected to Bitcoin’s recent performance and other related events including the Bitcoin Futures ETF approval in the US.

Tesla CEO and billionaire Elon Musk was the catalyst behind Tesla’s initial Bitcoin payments acceptance and is certainly the driving force for the upcoming reinstatement. Musk is a Bitcoin proponent and has revealed that he holds a substantial amount of Bitcoin alongside Ethereum and his most favorite cryptocurrency Dogecoin. The Tesla CEO made this revelation during the August B-word conference that featured Twitter founder and Bitcoin maximalist Jack Dorsey and Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood.

While Tesla has all its digital assets in its custody, it has also revealed plans to introduce custodial services offered by third parties.

“We have ownership of and control over our digital assets and we may use third-party custodial services to secure it. The digital assets are initially recorded at cost and are subsequently re-measured on the consolidated balance sheet at cost, net of any impairment losses incurred since acquisition.”