On Monday, Tesla revealed that it had invested $1.5 billion in bitcoin as part of its efforts to diversify and maximize returns on surplus cash.
Just to give a little kicker to its own investment, the company also said that it expects to begin accepting bitcoin as payment for its cars in the near future, subject to applicable laws.
Chief executive Elon Musk has become a crypto influencer, discussing bitcoin with other CEOs on Twitter, declaring himself a supporter of it on the Clubhouse chat app and recently endorsing Dogecoin as “the people’s crypto”.
Its price doubled the day after Musk tweeted the single word “Doge”.
The 10-K filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission made no mention of any personal account dealing in bitcoin by Tesla staff. Rather, it emphasized that this new policy has been approved by the board’s audit committee.
The price of bitcoin shot up from $39,000 to $46,000 on the news. So the electric car maker’s treasury is already in the money.
Sadly, because cryptos are considered indefinite-lived intangible assets, it cannot mark up any profit until it actually sells its bitcoins.
