Tesla now accepts bitcoin as payment, several weeks after Elon Musk first teased the prospect.
In a tweet early Wednesday morning, Musk announced that bitcoin is now an acceptable payment method for buying a new Tesla. The CEO also made it clear that Tesla is only using internal and open source software to process the payments, and that the company will retain the payments in bitcoin, rather than transfer them into USD.
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.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 24, 2021
The news has sparked a rally for the cryptocurrency, with it reaching as high as $57,000 shortly after the tweet. Musk also announced the company will be expanding the program internationally later this year.
Pay by Bitcoin capability available outside US later this year
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 24, 2021