Tesla To Accept Payments For Its Electric Cars in Bitcoin

Tesla's CEO Elon Musk disclosed in a tweet earlier today that you can now buy their electric cars directly with your Bitcoin in the US. Tesla announced recently that it had invested a large amount into the cryptocurrency, buying about $1.5 billion worth of it.

Tesla customers can now choose to pay using BTC as the option now appears on the company's official website, alongside the regular pay with card option. Although this is exclusive to residents of the United States, Elon Musk says the option will be made available to other countries later this year.

The CEO who is known for his enthusiastic support of the cryptocurrency tweeted "Tesla is using only internal and open source software & operates Bitcoin nodes directly." In a follow-up tweet, he shared that any Bitcoin paid to Tesla will stay in Bitcoin and not be converted to dollars or any currency. 

Over a month ago, when the company declared in its annual report that it had invested $1.5 billion in crypto, it also shared its plan to begin taking payments in Bitcoin as well. The news led to a jump in the value of crypto, making it go over $43,000 at the time.

Tesla's market value currently is about $635 billion, $35 billion more than it was in February. Its shares cost over $662 currently.

Other companies which have shown enthusiasm for the coin include Uber and Twitter. However, Jack Dorsey of Twitter has said the company was undecided in holding BTC while Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber CEO, suggested that the ride-hailing company could potentially accept the coin as payment.

Tesla's primary competitor, General Motors has said that the company hasn't decided whether to accept Bitcoin as payment for its cars.

The support page on Tesla's website clearly explains how the payment with Bitcoin will work. Users will either copy and paste their wallet address or scan a QR code to start the payment process. All prices will be shown in the US just like before, but customers can pay the equivalent amount in BTC. 

The site also clearly states the following regarding BTC transactions: 

1. All transactions cannot be reversed.

2. Customers are responsible for all transaction fees associated with payments for their cars.

3. Only Bitcoin is accepted,

 as sending any other crypto into Tesla's wallet will not be received and might lead to the loss of your BTC.

4. Inputting the bitcoin address incorrectly might cause your bitcoin to be lost or destroyed.

5. Bitcoin payments can take up to a day or more to be finalized in some cases.

6. In the case of a refund, the value might be less than the value at the time of the purchase. This is due to the volatile nature of the coin.

 The price of bitcoin is currently at $55,444.