Tesla buys $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin, says may accept it for payment for products in the 'near future'
Telsa (TSLA) revealed in a securities filing that the electric car company has purchased $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin and expects to accept the cryptocurrency for its products in the future.
“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,” the company wrote in a 10-K filing with the SEC.
According to the fling, Tesla said it expects to begin accepting bitcoin as a form of payment for its products “in the near future,” where it’s permitted.
A week ago, Tesla CEO Elon Musk discussed bitcoin during an interview on the popular voice chat app Clubhouse.
“I do think at this point bitcoin is a good thing. And, so, I am a supporter of bitcoin. Like I said, I was late to the party, but I am a supporter of bitcoin. And I think, bitcoin is really on the verge of getting broad acceptance by conventional finance people,” Musk said at the time.
Musk also briefly added #bitcoin to his Twitter profile, which has since been removed.
Bitcoin’s (BTC-USD) price surged nearly 14% to a new record high of $44,900 on the Tesla news.
Shares of Tesla traded more than 2.8% higher in the pre-market near $876.
Julia La Roche is a correspondent for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter.