Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company will now accept Bitcoin as a form of payment for a new electric car.
"You can now buy a Tesla with bitcoin," CEO Elon Musk tweeted Wednesday, making good on a promise the company made in a financial filing last month.
Musk added that the cryptocurrency will not be converted to dollars and that paying with Bitcoin will be available outside the U.S. later this year.
After the news, the price of Bitcoin climbed to $56,242, around 3%, which would be enough to cover the price of the least expensive Tesla model, the Tesla Model 3, which costs under $40,000.
If a customer decides to return a Tesla bought with bitcoins, the company said it can refund them either in U.S. dollars or bitcoins.
Dan Ives, a market analyst at Wedbush Securities, told CNN that the move was a “seminal moment” for both Tesla and Bitcoin.
"We expect less than 5% of transactions to be through Bitcoin over the next 12 to 18 months, however, this could move higher over time as crypto acceptance starts to ramp over the coming years," he added.
Musk has gone from a cryptocurrency skeptic to embracing the new asset. Recently, the company invested $1.5 billion in Bitcoin.
“I do at this point think Bitcoin is a good thing, and I am a supporter of Bitcoin,” Musk said January 31 during an interview on the networking app Clubhouse. “Many friends of mine have tried to convince me to get involved in Bitcoin for a long time.”
“I think Bitcoin is really on the verge of getting broad acceptance by conventional finance people,” he added.
Both Tesla and Bitcoin have risen sharply in value over the past 12 months, with Tesla shares surging from $100 to $600 and Bitcoin from $7,000 to over $55,000 today.
