Tesla buys $1.5 billion in Bitcoin, will accept the cryptocurrency as payment

Elon Musk has made it clear he’s a fan of cryptocurrency, up to the point he even had a #bitcoin hashtag included in his Twitter bio last month. The 49-year-old businessman is now expressing his support for bitcoin in a greater way by announcing Tesla has already purchased $1.5 billion in bitcoin, as revealed in an SEC filing.

Following the announcement, it didn’t take too long for the cryptocurrency to hit an all-time high of nearly $44,000 per unit, at the moment of writing. Further signaling Musk’s affinity for cyrptocurrency is the decision taken by Tesla to accept bitcoin as a form of payment “in the near future” per the same SEC filing.

According to the same document, Tesla points out the introduction of cryptocurrency as a type of payment makes the company’s financial situation exposed to greater volatility than before. The flip side is the EV brand has “more flexibility to further diversify and maximize returns on our cash.”

Attached below is an excerpt from the SEC filing related to Tesla’s decision to purchase $1.5 billion worth of bitcoing and the plan to recognize the cryptocurrency in the near future as a form of payment.

“In January 2021, we updated our investment policy to provide us with more flexibility to further diversify and maximize returns on our cash that is not required to maintain adequate operating liquidity. As part of the policy, we may invest a portion of such cash in certain specified alternative reserve assets.

Thereafter, we invested an aggregate $1.50 billion in bitcoin under this policy. 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.

Source: United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)